Can you take me to the stars above?
Bring me down some stardust?
Kiss me like the world's gonna end
Hold me like a hurricane's coming.
Because I lean on you when I'm too weak
And I need you more than you need me
And if I honestly had to tell the truth
I could never explain how much I need you
And if darkness covers this soul of mine
I hope your light continues to shine
Because beautiful lights are the best gift
God can give,
And your light's better than the dark where I live
So promise me your best, but don't give me all
Save some for yourself in case we begin to fall
God makes beautiful things to last
And if that's true, you're here for times long past
The times I'll roam this earth
Beauty remains where others lack worth
“Star’s Dust” Analysis
When writing “Star’s Dust”, I was trying to capture the moment when you realize exactly how much a person means to you. The feeling that a certain person can give you more, just by being in your life, than any other person in the world is irreplaceable to me and I wanted to capture that feeling. I wrote this poem when I was thinking of someone I could not imagine losing because that person is so important in the foundations of my life. Every time I see that person’s smile, Rusten’s smile, it’s like they just brought me a little bit of star dust.
The usage of star dust is an allusion to Peter and the Star Catchers by Barry and Pearson, a story I read in middle school that is an interesting telling of the well known fairytale, Peter Pan. In the story, when a shooting star hits earth, a group of people is responsible for finding the star and collecting its dust because the dust gives the ability to fly when touched. So the allusion to star dust is my way of saying that Rusten’s smile makes me feel like I’m flying.
The first stanza is mostly focused on wanting him to stay with me. The world ending and “hurricanes coming” are both events where you cling to the person you love with no intention of ever letting go. They are both events where every second you’re still alive is precious and you have to make the most of those few precious seconds. I wanted to make it very clear that I don’t want to waste one second of my life with him not there.
The second stanza is a confession of fear. My worst fear is that I’m going to end up alone. The speaker of the poem voices this fear by explaining how she relies on that person and states her belief that she needs him more than he needs her so it would be easier for him to leave her.
The third stanza is a bit of my past coming in to play. For the majority of my junior year I was a very dark, cynical person because of some things that changed my view on the world. Looking back, I realize it was very hard for him to cope with me being so negative and full of darkness and gloom. So the third stanza is really dedicated to telling him that I don’t want his happiness to be lessened everytime I’m unhappy because his happiness is a light that kept me trying when I really wanted to give up.
Lastly, the fourth stanza was a kind of resolve in my mind. I realize that we are human, that we will both mistakes and that somewhere along the way, we might lose each other. The speaker says, “So promise me your best, but don't give me all/ Save some for yourself in case we begin to fall” because I believed it very important that he know that neither of us, despite how happy we might be together, should invest our entire selves into each other. Because we are human and we might not always have each other, I think it a mistake to base everything we are off of each other.
The last four lines are a bit of my self deprecating attitude because I think he is so much better than I am. The main purpose of the last lines was to convey that emotion. The last line, “Beauty remains where others lack worth” is a truth I’ve seen in life. After a destructive wildfire, the trees, grass and flowers can still come back. That’s how life is too. Bad things come but they don’t last because the beauty in life always wins. I’ve always thought Rusten was better than me, so I decided a long time ago that in the end, he will end up in a much happier place than me because it’s what he deserves.