Stargazing

When I was small I made a galaxy

On my bedroom wall.

At night I stood swaying in its glow

My mattress a planet of its own

And though I did not know the clichés of stars then –

Of their deaths predating their light reaching our eyes

Of their placement apparently prophesising our lives

Of distant lovers turning to the same bright skies

 – I had a sense.

 

It impressed itself upon me through the silence of the room

Through the shadows of the armchair no longer large enough for two

Through the clothes cocooned inside the wardrobe I’d outgrow soon –

That a decade in the future the fallen moons would still shine

That the crescents would play forever in a corner of my mind

That us would turn together to the same moment in time

– And I felt past, present and future collide in the gloom.

 

 

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