Have you seen the moon?

Have you seen the moon?

Have you really looked?

A harsh mistress or a dainty maid

A balloon deflated and then remade

By day or night in light or in shade

A pockmarked elusive renegade

Have you seen the moon?

Have you really looked?

Have you seen the stars?

Have you really looked?

A string of iridescent beads

A shiny scattering of seeds

A glowing carpet on the breeze

and all the wonder that it breeds

Have you seen the stars?

Have you really looked?

Steve Wheeler © 25 February, 2021

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Stealing the stars

If I could 

then I would 

steal a star right

out of the sky 

to give to you. 

 

Unfortunately 

there’s nowhere

I can safely store

a two million mile

diameter sphere 

of burning gas

with a surface 

temperature

of five thousand

degrees Kelvin 

Sometimes

being a romantic 

is totally 

impractic 

al 

Steve Wheeler © 29 December, 2020

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Starlight

Starlight reaching down

to graze my soul

across millennia; 

light years 

of existence 

in a single instant. 

How often 

have I scanned 

this ancient dome of sky 

to seek some solace 

from the fraught insanity 

of life? 

Orion’s shoulders 

and angular Cassiopeia; 

the static pulse of Polaris 

and the meanderings 

of Draco as he traverses 

the milky carpet 

of the silver winter sky; 

All provoke the pause, 

the gaze of wonder, 

a catch in the breath. 

Many times 

the light from 

distant worlds long gone 

has arrested my vision, 

washing over my mind 

with inspiration. 

Steve Wheeler © 22 November, 2020

image source