Andromeda
We searched for Andromeda...
Waited all summer
for the early autumn sky,
then several days
for a cloudless night.
Plotting star charts,
pouring through texts:
I read of her meanings-
such folklore sparkling
in the constellation
that holds the galaxy:
The most distant object visible
to the naked eye.
A spiral galaxy
swirling.
Using Pegasus as our guide,
We adjusted the telescope
and leapt star by star,
prancing through the sky
until at last we found her !
And I'm struck
by the haze-
nebulosity.
Her mythic impact
so much more immense
than the visual one.
But for all our research
she might have been
merely a smudge
on the lens.
1991 Outer Space Poems- Anthology
No comments:
Post a Comment