1.
Dark Earth itself's
Become a midnight sky,
A Void before a world
Was ever thought.
Our winged Mother
Purrs from deep inside
And homes her nose
Toward Light, with sight
As sure as angels.
Here in her womb,
This narrow cave
Of lighted, solid ground,
We fidget and await our birth.
2
A little galaxy
Comes into view below
Like fading coals
Of memory,
Its tiny constellations
Straining to be seen.
Almost too dim
To pinpoint,
A spiral nebula
Curls 'round and back
Toward some
Invisible horizon.
These stars below us
Start to multiply.
We trace
A narrow, spinal cord
Of large, bright ganglia.
My recognition
Starts to dawn,
Like Ancients bringing
Language from the night.
Now I can give
These constellations names:
That one is Highway 70.
We're entering
A Milky Way
Of such Earth-stars,
Too numerous
For eyes to sort
Except to know
That every star
That pulses radiance
Beams some node
Of human life.
We come down to
These endless
Possibilities.
Deplaning, I look up.
'What then, ' I wonder,
'Are those stars above? '
copyright 2004 by Max Reif
Max Reif
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/21-dark-night-sky-passage/
