{ Delicate Constellations }

Smeared across a darkening sky,

Flecks of light wink at the earth's corners,

Tempting you to come

And chart your course.

Equipped with creaking boughs

And steady eyes,

You released your vessel from the docks

To set sail.

And with this burden to chase the horizon,

You left this world--old and tired--

To find a new one--

One that would douse your thirst for discovery.

Across the leagues your vessel sailed

As you plotted your way to a world untouched by men like you--

Men who carried with them the power to change it--

To chart it--

To caress its mountains and valleys with their eager eyes and stalwart tools.

Yet as you sailed,

Your spirit found a sweet release in mapping--not land--

But stars.

Your arms and legs and hands and feet

Propelled you to the heights of your ship

Where at last you found your rest and tilted your gaze towards the heavens.

Equipped with your astronomical device,

You lingered in your silent perch

Waiting for the sky to unfurl before you

That you might decipher the constellations etched across its vast expanse.

And as you rested in your sanctuary of seclusion--

With one eye closed while the other drank deeply of the intensified view

That your mechanism provided--

You began your task of sifting through the mysteries

That filled the night hours.

You started with Orion

And found the waist that marked the hunter,

Then followed the lines that led to the arms that held the bow.

And with your piercing gaze, you drew back the layers--

The exterior known to those who merely cast glances

At the rigid, majestic form.

But your gaze searched the hunter's depths,

Giving life to the one who sought the prize that remained ever aloof.

Then you shifted your weight

And moved your apparatus towards the lounging queen.

And there you discovered the curves that long to be caressed--

Clutched tight by love's firm grasp,

Yet gently held.

You were not rough with her.

But instead invited her to show you why she fled across the sky,

Why her torments plagued her endlessly,

Why she would not stop for words or woos.

And as you ascertained her secrets,

You stowed them away in humility

And continued to explore.

Having spoken with the queen,

You shifted your body once again as the waves rocked your ship ever slowly

And looked up at the seven sisters.

They hid among the brighter lights

But were not overlooked by your careful eye.

You spoke softly to them

And coaxed them out from behind the meekness veiling their resplendent faces.

And, O, how they came alive!

Dancing in a ring that fell on softer ground

Than the shores you sought afar.

Their movements trailed in the heavens and

Send soft ripples into the folds of darkness around them.

You watched and smiled,

The mysteries unraveling before your eye,

As you gleaned a knowledge known by few

And understood in its fullness by fewer still.

And after understanding what constituted the sisters' essence,

You turned to the sky at large

And etched delicate constellations of your own,

Leaving sweet kiss along the horizon,

Gently moving up to the height of the heavens.

For you had earned the right to leave your mark upon the night sky.

Then, as a man who mapped out his portion of the stars,

You set aside your tools

And laid amid the rigging around you,

Letting your thoughts linger

And intertwine with the miry blackness above

As you let it explore your depths.

Yet just as sleep tempted your eyelids--

With gentle hands and a soothing release--

A voice was heard from the deck below,

A herald proclaiming

Land.

You moved with a caution known by stiff muscles--

Of a mind long distracted by mysteries yet untouched--

And looking at the constellations you had yet to explore,

You sighed a sigh of moments well spent--

Or memories forged and cherished--

Then descended from your perch to drink in all your eyes would behold

Of your new world.

The shores lay just beyond your grasp,

An Eden untouched by your tools--

A land that blushed under your firm gaze.

But listening to the whispers that wove through your sails,

You turned once more to the skies above

And consented with a gentle nod that you were a Columbus--

Not a Lewis or a Clark--

And in persisting further, you would become a young Cortez.

So you left these shores--

My shores--

That another might come and take your place.

For this world--

With its intricacies and vulnerabilities--

Was only yours to discover.

But the day shall come

When the one who is meant to spend his years mapping out its geography

Will return to this deep harbor

And thank you for your labors.