The Starlit Course
Don Hynes
The Starlit Course
The solar calendar is crafted not by years
but epochal ages, thousands and thousands
of annual orbits composing one transit,
a movement recorded through the axial dance
of the equinox procession.
We knock on the door of the bridge
wanting to know our location
and the duration of our journey
while monks traverse the mountains of our vessel
fingering their beads, encouraging kindness.
Unrest and conflict roll like ocean swells
but the ever-changing landscape is awe full
particularly when the day light surrenders
to the vast arc of the night sky
and the track of our starlit journey.
How should we abide our placement
aboard the wonder of this delicate ship?
Before we defile or demand too much
we could notice the look in the child’s eyes
or the way Venus makes her surprising entry
on the eastern slope of the morning horizon
and remember if we will
the way we charted this course together.
Don Hynes