Another star poem
Mar. 19th, 2011 12:58 pmSince a number of friends seemed to like the poem I posted yesterday, here's another anthropomorphized astronomy poem, from my grad-school days:
----
The shyer stars
I.
Our teacher told us, looking up that night
in the moonless field, of the ancients' eye exam:
"Look at the middle star in the handle of the big dipper.
If you can see a second star, your vision is sharp."
Light years apart, those two, but from here
they are almost one, the fainter overlooked,
except by this small group, damp with dew, straining to see.
II.
She is magic: she can make herself invisible.
Drives you insane. You can see her if you don't try,
she's clear at the edge of your vision.
But try to look right at her,
and she hides behind herself.
Only through the lens of the telescope
can you see her straight on,
shivering, trapped,
a deer caught in her own light.
----
The shyer stars
I.
Our teacher told us, looking up that night
in the moonless field, of the ancients' eye exam:
"Look at the middle star in the handle of the big dipper.
If you can see a second star, your vision is sharp."
Light years apart, those two, but from here
they are almost one, the fainter overlooked,
except by this small group, damp with dew, straining to see.
II.
She is magic: she can make herself invisible.
Drives you insane. You can see her if you don't try,
she's clear at the edge of your vision.
But try to look right at her,
and she hides behind herself.
Only through the lens of the telescope
can you see her straight on,
shivering, trapped,
a deer caught in her own light.