LVI
Stars have always intrigued me
So I thought I'd try
To learn the constellations -
Find my way around the sky.
I bought myself a book
Of detailed charts and maps
So that in my night sky knowledge
There'd be no black holes and gaps.
From the day I bought the book
Dark clouds veiled the skies
So I studied all the maps with care
And was able to memorise ...
All the constellations
In our Northern sky.
And when at last the clouds cleared
A star expert was I.
I drove into the countryside
Away from the city's light
And climbed a grassy little hill
On a clear and frosty nght.
There out in the open
In the heavens above my head
Were millions and billions of twinkling points
A glorious star-spangled spread.
But all my hard-gained knowledge
Was quite useless to me
For nowhere in the heavens
Was I able to see ...
The lines that my book had
The diagrams and information
That helped me to remember
Each separate constellation.
Is that star in Taurus?
Is it part of the Charioteer?
The groups all run together,
It really isn't clear.
My fingers and toes are icy,
|I'm frozen to the bone.
I'm not that keen on stars any more -
I think I'll just go home.
November 1990
