The predawn insomniac watches
\nthe televised launch of space shuttle Discovery,
\nS171 on its carefully calculated route to the space station.
\nThrough the wide window nearby
\nthe predawn sky tinges pink through naked spring trees.
\nEventually the sun stabs through
\nthe clenching dark maple fingers:
\nyesterday molten gold
\nthe day before, fiery blood
\ntoday, a pale elbow rubbing
\nthrough a threadbare gray sleeve.
\nEach day, the sight transfixes me:
\nI could be leaning against
\na towering plinth at Stonehenge,
\npeering at the sky up the tiny inclined tunnel
\nfrom a pyramid in Egypt,
\nmeditating on the moon across the stones
\nhigh above the valley in Macchu Pichu\u2014
\nbut I am fixed here in conversation
\nwith the sun and its tree in a language
\nI have forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NaPoWriMo Day 5: I see astronomy in the crotch of a maple tree. (#1056) Continue reading