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A visual representation of "Vanilla in the stars" by Agnes Lam

CHAN Ching Hei
St. Mary's Canossian College


The poem “Vanilla in the stars” describes how fragments of stars have fallen to Earth to nourish lives. The idea that we are made up of ashes and dust of the ancient stars is exemplified through the neon and metallic stars and galaxies drawn in the encompassing presence of the grandmother. Despite the passing of the grandmother, illustrated by the pale and blue colours used in drawing her face, the stardust that runs into the family gene shines again in the descendants. The three generations of women are linked together by the same star, as shown by a ribbon of gaseous starlight that connects them all. Furthermore, the pair of hands that wraps three generations of ladies shows that the younger generations are created and protected by their ancestors. To present the vigour and vitality of the young ones, bright colours are used in drawing the youngest girl. The theme of regeneration and reincarnation of life in the cosmic cycle is thus delivered in the drawing.

Vanilla in the stars


When I was a child,
I used to gaze at the stars above

our garden of roses, jasmine and lingzhi by the sea,
wondering how far away they really were,
whether they were shining still at the source
by the time their light reached me …

I was told that everyone was born with a star
which glowed or dimmed with the fortunes of each.
I also heard people destined to be close
were at first fragments of the same star

and from birth went searching for each other.
Such parting, seeking, reuniting might take
three lifetimes with centuries in between.
I had thought all these were but myths …

Now decades later, I read about the life of stars,
how their cores burn for ten billion years,
how towards the end, just before oblivion,
they atomize into nebulae of fragile brilliance –

ultra violet, infra red, luminous white, neon green or blue,
astronomical butterflies of gaseous light
afloat in a last waltz choreographed by relativity,
scattering their heated ashes into the void of the universe …

Some of this cosmic dust falls onto our little earth
carrying hydrocarbon compounds, organic matter
able to mutate into plant and animal life,
a spectrum of elemental fragrances …

Perhaps on the dust emanating from one ancient star
were borne the first molecules of a pandan leaf,
a sprig of mint or basil, a vanilla pod, a vine tomato,
a morning frangipani, an evening rose, a lily of the night …

Perhaps our parents or grandparents or ancestors further back
strolling through a garden or a field had breathed in the scents
effusing from some of these plants born of the same star
and passed them on as DNA in the genes of which we were made …

Could that be why, on our early encounters, we already sensed
in each other a whiff of something familiar, why, when we are near,
there is in the air some spark which seems to have always been there,
prompting us to connect our pasts, share our stories even as they evolve …

… till the day when we too burn away into dust
and the aromas of our essence dissipate
into the same kaleidoscope of ether light
to be drawn into solar space by astral winds …

… perhaps to make vanilla in a star to be
before the next lifetime of three?

Agnes Lam


“Vanilla in the Stars” was first published as:
Lam, Agnes. (2009). Vanilla in the stars. In P. Amato & M. J. Salfran (Eds.), Nosside 2008: XXIVth Poetry Prize anthology (pp. 89-92). Reggio Calabria: Centro Studi Bosio, Italy. (Published in English and Italian.)