THE NIGHT SKY

It's always night, or we wouldn't need light.
--Thelonious Monk

How easily these poets are fooled –

“wait for the light” they are told
that far-away light speeding across the sky
just wait, it will be here soon
like the anticipated glory of thick volumes
like whatever applause sounds like from Beyond

wait for it
it will be here soon, light you can’t miss
like your own imagined trajectory
like waiting for the predicted first born
like the forecast for rain or green hail

it will be here soon, look -- here or there
you won’t miss it, like your own birth
just wait, it will be here soon

then
it will fade
grow fainter
disappear
as if no one ever said it would be here
in the first place.


(Looking for the space station
June 20, 2007)