Comet over Otago

for Claire Allegra

you pause on the suspension bridge
for one last red-carpet pose
before launching your dazzling diva dive
into the Kawarau River Gorge
shrieking headlong past primeval rockface
to places unseen from our viewing platform --
glacial rivers, lush volcanic islands,
galaxies riddled with black holes --
until, ankle-tethered, your astral body
veers into orbit again
trailing a million-mile blaze of diamonds
lit by an invisible sun