.
When the sun
and all three moons
sink into the purple sea
it is the rarest dark of nights
and time to climb the knoll
up to her telescope.
She aims it
through the far-flung stars
always drawn to one
on the edges of the galaxy –
a tiny, twinkling sun
much like her own.
Perhaps it also holds a brood
of planets in its warmth,
and maybe there
another set of eyes looks back
across the wild darkness.
.
Her mate always scoffs at this
as do the other watchers
of the sky.
They scold her,
“Are we not
the only children
of the Great Divine?”
But she knows
the gods are not that small
and shakes her head
at arrogance
while polishing her lens,
knowing someday she will spot
a kindred planet in the heavens
and she will call it “Earth”.
.
.
© 2014, 2018 Betty Hayes Albright
Oh my, this really grabs you and pulls you in!
LikeLike
Thank you, Mirada! 🙂
LikeLike
A beautiful, and provocative, tale, Betty.
Reminded me of this story from “The Book Of Guff”.
“Somewhere in your forearm there is an atom. Circling the nucleus is an electron. On the electron two small bipeds are standing. The side of the electron they are on is facing away from the nucleus just at present, and they are gazing up at the starlight from distant atoms. Maybe they are on the way home from the pub, or walking their dogs. The night is very still. Says one biped to his companion:
“Do you suppose there’s anything out there?”
“What, are you insane or something?” replies the other.”
LikeLike
Ben, I love your little story – these are the topics I love to contemplate, fantasy or otherwise. (It’s why I’m sort of a “Trekkie” – especially “Next Generation”.)
No doubt you’ve read the fantasy, “Flatland” by Edwin Abbott – one of my old favorites. Someone back in school once said to me that our universe might be just a fleck of dust on some giant’s belt buckle. 😀
Thank you, as always, for your comment!
LikeLike
Let us both continue helping to keep hearts and minds open. 🙂
LikeLike
Ah…just love the message of this poem.
LikeLike
Thank you, Charlie – glad you liked the message in it!
LikeLike
Betty, my comments have not been showing up in anybody’s blogs lately, so I suspect this is a waste of effort. I wish I could figure it out. But this is, as usual, just excellent. Star gazers are always the ones who suddenly discover what needs to be discovered even if their discoveries are not always the one they suspect. The first few lines are absolutely brilliant:
When the sun and all three moons
have set into the purple sea
it is the rarest dark of nights,
the time to climb the knoll
up to her telescope.
LikeLike
Hi Thomas!
This comment came through fine, and hopefully I haven’t missed any. Yours are always very valuable to me, and I thank you for this one! The poem still needs a little tweaking in places, but it’ll have to wait.
Hope you are doing well! I keep meaning to send you and Ethel an email, and will try to do so soon.
LikeLike
Betty, how is Caddo?
LikeLike
Darn right, she will! 🙂 A nice positive note, Betty!
LikeLike
Thank you, kind sir! 🙂 Glad that you liked it.
LikeLike
Another one of what I like to call your beauties Betty! Love and hugs xx
LikeLike
Love it !
LikeLike
A truly magnificent poem, Betty.
LikeLike