NIGHT SKY by Evelyn Bales

 

Night Sky

By Evelyn Bales

 

We are seekers,

we who watch the night sky 

to see Mars move ever closer,

Jupiter and Venus with the crescent moon

in waning summer’s night.

 

Harvest Moon draws us from our beds

to stalk the yard like restless souls

obeying primordial command

to look and wonder

in awe of her tug and pull.

 

In December we lie awake waiting

for the full moon to slide below the horizon,

for our world to become dark enough,

for the dots and dashes of a Geminids shower

to call us to the window. 

  

Always searching for darker places

to dim the man-made light,

we take telescopes to cemeteries,

to empty football stadiums,

to better view the Milky Way.

 

Climb rooftops, draw anchor,

follow ancient charts

to sail boldly through blackness,

seeking a different light

to assuage the heart’s deep hunger.

 

(This poem first appeared in “In Spirit”, New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Fall 2007)

 

 

 

Evelyn Bales is a poet living in Kingsport, Tennessee. She has been published in Appalachian Heritage, (now Appalachian Review) Kudzu, Bloodroot, Anthology of Appalachian Poets and Writers, Southern Poetry Anthology, Tennessee Edition, as well as other journals and anthologies throughout the Appalachian region and beyond. Two of her poems were performed by the West Palm Beach Repertory Company in Legacy: The Voices of Women Poets. Her chapbook Kinkeeper was published by Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.

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