The Last North Star

No title makes a star more famous
to claim than the crown of the North Star,
Held now by Alpha Ursae Minoris,

a ternary system whose members share
her name as well as mantle: The pole
star of the north celestial hemisphere.

But these three stars are not the sole
recipients of this great fame.
There are others who once held the role

and should hold it again in time,
while equinoxes still precess.
Though now their ranks are in decline,

blotted out as more lights coalesce
into skyglow, and before our eyes
all but the brightest stars evanesce.

Theban already met with his demise,
the last pole star too dim to see
from light-polluted city skies.

And barely brighter than him, Errai
waits a millennium yet to succeed Polaris,
as brilliant a guide as we let her be.