In the dusky blue of early evening
Venus emerges like a lantern in the west
then Jupiter following loyally
like a light bearing knight;
three fat seals lay above the tide line,
one snorting and belching in his sleep,
dreaming of deep water and fish;
a pair of otters swim beneath them
floating in the flood, waiting for dinner
as Sirius fires in the east,
then Orion’s great scabbard
with Betelgeuse then Aldebaran pointing
toward the twinkling sisters of Pleiades;
the seal disturbs a flock of resting geese
who honk off to the nearby bay
as Mars, Ursa Major, Polaris and more
fill the sky with unfathomable patterns;
when daylight completely vanishes
thousands of stars shine
through the dark form of towering firs
crossed by the shadows of bat and owl,
speaking the secret life of Earth
that was and is and without vanity shall be
within the vast envelope of heaven.
