By Jean Ponzi
Staying an October night
with friends in their forest cabin.
Seeing starlight sparkle
on Brazil Creek, a tributary
to the Meramec River,
into Mississippi,
Earth’s water cycle shining.
Step outside with dog friend
for the good-night pee.
A pet for her head
then I look up . . .
Awestruck!
Breathless!
Ahhhhh! Behold:
Night Sky, Celestial Glory!
Silent scintillating brilliance!
Living in the City,
my Night Sky is nice, but limited.
Most nights, I’m glad to see
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Orion, Cygnes,
Pleiades, the Big Dipper (my fave)
and, of course, bella la Lune.
But a City kid can’t view galaxies,
not even a drop of Milky Way.
For all Urban We might know
that’s an old, dorky candy bar.
My creek night view is from a Dark Spot
in Crawford County, MO. A place so little
affected by human-caused light,
so little light-polluted
my eyes and heart can open
wide, open to BE
present, feeling welcome,
an Earthling sheltered by
The Great Starry Vault of Heaven.
Heaven (on Earth) indeed.
How would our species feel?
How might kindred
persons BE
if more of us could feel, relate to
Night Sky, really?
Ancient peoples saw, and wondered,
measured, characterized.
Naming patterns for their myth beings:
queens, beasts, goddesses & gods, heroes, trees.
Varied cultures spark a universe of Star Stories.
Chilled on a fall night in 1957
I huddled with my grown-ups, Mom and Dad,
Gramma and Grampa and Auntie Corrine,
out in the dark yard, gazes up,
riveted and trembling with Cold War fears,
seeing Sputnik
passing, blinking, over US space.
My toddler fears wired to theirs.
Fear then, what now?
Human-made galactic eyes sending pix
Awe in electrons, over light-years’ distance.
Patterns remain, as climates change.
What can the flowing Milky Way show us?
Change is constant, including Perspective.
What might change for young people today?
How might they feel, what kinship might link them,
if they could bask in starlit darkness?
Oh stars, help me beam out
Night Sky Story!
To help re-pattern hearts,
encouraging, linking
Human to Nature.
Jean Ponzi, a Homo sapiens, considers ways to be of service,
options to be an illuminator for her kind, through Earthworms podcast conversations via KDHX St. Louis Independent Media, and her job with EarthWays Center of Missouri Botanical Garden.