Paled

Perhaps it is only that my eyes have not adjusted to the night, or that my vision is itself less clear, but the autumn stars don't seem as bright as they once appeared. Maybe it is that the valley towns are growing and creeping up the ridge, and their lights bit by bit are stealing the darkness and thus the brightness of the night sky.

But waking from a late nap and going out into the chill I looked up and found something not being there— that brilliance once familiar now faded. It's a lot like every day, the night sky. You make shapes from points and tell stories about them, but eventually the shapes dissolve back into points and you forget the stories, and earthly light is the culprit. Maybe I ought not to have napped so much. Maybe if I hadn't forgotten what I dreamed.


( Sunday Verse )