Contest Entry: One Piece of Sky
[OK, one more entry before I put up the poll. This one is a poem from Julie…]
It is sometimes hard to imagine that the same sky you are looking is the same sky that someone else also shares thousands of miles away. It is the same sky. And each patch of sky is attached to another patch of sky, connected on and on infinitely—an infinite quilt of sky. Though we stand in different places, it is the same sky above us. Some days it may look different, depending where you are and where you stand, the weather conditions, and the season, but it is still the same sky.
Though it is viewed from different angles, different visibilities, different altitudes, at different times, through different eyes, we all share the sky. We reside in the same system and galaxy.
The night sky is reassuring and adds a certain harmony and connectedness to a world that seems to be so chaotic and random. The sun rises. It sets. The moon, we all know will be seen at night.
It is the natural clock that keeps the pace of things, that keeps us on our regularly programmed schedules.
The sun, the moon, and the sky are all universal elements to Earth. The sky is universal to us. We can all feel a deep connection to it.
The sun and moon sets the pace for all biological things. The sun and the moon have been with us from the beginnings. It has been with us throughout the course of biological evolution. We have evolved around these cycles. These cycles are inside all of us, every animal, every plant, every creature and every living thing. It is written in the seeds of our genetics, in the long evolutionary history of our DNA.
The biological clock that regulates the human body sleep/wake patterns is located in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that regulates thirst and hunger and sexual desire, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Circadian rhythms, the 24 hour cyclical processes of human beings, can even be observed at the biochemical cellular level by which cells communicate hormonally by means of the endocrine system. This is the way the body keeps itself in sync and in harmony with day and night. When the night comes, you are wired to get sleepy.
All living things seem to be chronobiological. So many animals are seasonal.
Hibernation, mating behaviors, various instincts, and migrations are the result of the evolutionary underpinnings connected to the cycles of the sun and moon of the night sky caused by our earth spinning around the sun at a tilt.
The stars above, the planets, can feel like fixtures of the Earth, like deep set lights shining through holes in a dark ceiling of firmament. The universe sometimes feels permanent….like, a permanent firmament. Say that three times fast.
The sky is reassuring, reliable, and right on time. We can feel at harmony and feel a strong bond with it all. This every day cycle of time feels infinite and perpetual.
The sun and moon feel like permanent moving fixtures. This is probably one reason why people worshipped natural processes as their gods. The sun and moon seem like good candidates for deities of the infinite. Our connection to this cycle of time and space and sky feels sort of spiritual.
And, indeed, the elements from the sky were the basis of our creation. We are carbon-based lifeforms made up of space sky elements. All organic molecular structures are made up of carbon bases. Stars are about 98% helium and hydrogen and 2% all of the other earth elements; carbon is one of these. It is thought that many of the earth’s element arose from stars that had died and had released their star material elements to form into an interstellar medium of dust and gas in space.
The Hubble Deep Field video that Tony made, which really made me feel a connection to so many things (all this spiritual feeling, all of this feeling of connection to the universe) inspired me to write a poem.
The metaphor of the star being watched from afar represents that kind of connection one can feel with something–or someone else –so far away. It is like the connection one feels with the night sky. Distant things can feel so close sometimes.
The more you stare at something, the more you observe it, whether it be near or far, the more it ties in with the familiar. Familiarity can lead to trust.
I imagine what it must be like discovering a new star through a telescope and feeling sort of like you found a unique treasure. You feel lucky. You feel like you caught something special. It is sort of like lassoing the moon. It is mine. You catch something in your sights, you admire it, then you actually catch it, you lasso it, you anchor yourself to it. It is that feeling of MINE.
You look up at a star in the sky. Your sky. Maybe the star you are staring at is in an abstract sense looking back at you. You mirror each other in placement. The skies seem mirrored in placement, though they are same sky, just seen from a different perspective.
The below poem is a poem dedicated to love that formed at a distance, a love that formed in spite of barriers.
And, yes, I caught the star, and it is mine. And I’m going to keep it.
========================================================
One Piece of Sky
I watch you
under telescope and sky,
one star, distant star,
one shiny fleck on my radar
screen.
I see you
through—
my narrowing lens,
I see you sharpen to
brighten, to embolden–
beautiful,
never blending; a blaze amongst the rest.
As I focus,
adjust,
hold you still,
focusing my sights
upon you, my radiant star,
my most unusual star,
one of a distant
night sky,
I find I have you caught,
centered,
captured
in the pin point
of my telescope.
and I can feel you
fast approaching me,
from a million light years
away,
flash cascading
from a black background blizzard
of galaxy and snow.
How the speed of light hooks and
bends, comet tails around
the crimson trails of fire,
spooled along
as I lasso you onto my line,
and reel your orbit
in close.
I am drawn by your light,
inspired by the darkened night sky,
drawn to your
deep glow.
I look at you
through my tiny aperture,
how fixated I am by this pure
mystery and wonder,
and I
wonder,
how is it we connected
in this vast blanket
of universe,
amidst the growing galaxies
and millions of stars galore.
You have hit me like a bright beam
reflecting through my eyes,
casting several points of light
that penetrate so deep
inside my being–
so deep,
I cannot let you go,
And you cannot resist
the gravitational lures of my capture,
my voyeur eyes cast upon you
holding you tight, still and mesmerized,
tied and bound by a space
that is becoming small,
and smaller still,
as our worlds merge together
and collide into a single universe,
where we inhabit and share
one piece of sky.
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