Sky Watching

Last week we were promised a meteor shower with a three night run. Come dark on the first day, not surprisingly, the city's lights veiled the show. And out in the country the next two nights cloud cover, likewise, hid the shooting stars. But every so often things align correctly, and the night sky becomes a spectacle to behold.

Sky Watching - after Rebecca McClanahan

Needing it still, she comes

when she can, this time

to a mountain top where her chatter

brims with excitement about the cloudless

night. Cassiopea, Orion, Ursa Major

and Minor shimmer light years away,

resplendent. And tonight the chance

to inspect the planets, see Saturn's rings,

mark the moons of Jupiter

with the aid of a powerful telescope

and its astronomer owner.

        But even roses have thorns:

        the cable car ride to the summit. Fear

        of heights no help as the darkened

        mountainside dropped away. Clutching

        a pole, she fixated on the floor shrouded

        in shadows, grateful for dimness hiding

        her death grip. Halfway there a full moon

        appeared from behind the peaks, flooding

        the cabin with light, blunting her dread.

Colored bands surround Saturn

as promised, and the Galileo satellites

of Jupiter remain unchanged from 1610.

A skeptic steps away from the scope

muttering, "This stuff really exists,"

and the hours hurtle past.

The return passage forgettable

as the conference itself.

But the side trip to the heavens

worth the lifetime in the gondola.

Marilyn Aschoff Mellor