I'm not a nova

[plasmid]

Believe me I am not, my friend,

Tellurian, everyone knows

My rays in several lines extend

Each cardinal and pair of the rose

But just a glimpse you'll catch of me

If life now appears to be short

Blackness hence is all you'll see

And few might believe your report

Though stuff of lore from ages past

From living I now will be freed

Dispersed into this ocean vast

In death do I scatter my seed

[Shakeepuddn]

octopus (giant perhaps)

Edited December 16, 2009 by Shakeepuddn

[plasmid]

octopus (giant perhaps)

Shakee gets this one on the nose, or beak as the case may be

The "cardinal and pair of the rose" is referring to a compass rose: each of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) plus each pair (NE, NW, SE, SW) comes out to eight rays. The middle stanza refers to octopus ink, and the last to the fact that octopi die soon after reproducing. And indeed this is a giant octopus: the "stuff of lore from ages past" is a nod to old-timey maps whose margins read "Here be monsters"