Monday, December 22, 2014

The Sister Stars


How high we are here;
seated somewhere
between the stars
and the sleeping town below.
See: we are so high
that we have but to reach out
to touch the moon’s bright face
as it rises to greet us from the horizon.
See: we are so high
that we need only to listen carefully
to hear the murmured whisperings
of the gods above
as they chart the tide of the affairs of men
asleep and unknowing in the world below.
See: we are so high
that we count ourselves
as sisters to the stars.

Continuing their journeys
our sister stars are unaware
that their wanderings, their very courses,
are traced out by us.
For nothing can happen in the heavens
unless we three decide that it will.
The truth is: the gods are helpless,
unable to act without our instructions
(although they do not know this,
and imagine that their schemes
are all their own).

And so we three sit here quietly
through the blue Arabian night,
making the decisions of gods,
naming new constellations:
here: the leopard,
with glowing twin-sun eyes,
there: the stooping falcon,
wings stretched between galaxies,
and there: the heroine,
riding a winged sphinx
to stars yet more distant than her own:
all creatures of our night-watch fantasy.

But even these things are pastimes,
pleasantries, mere diversions.
For our true purpose
Is to search until we find one star,
and one star only
among our myriad sister stars.
Somewhere, if only we can find it,
shines a star that will save the world.
and that is the star
which we will call down to earth.




Painting: Arabian Nights by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant

4 comments:

  1. Truly amazing poetry. It is so imaginative, whimsical and beautiful! Thank you for this!

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    1. Thank you, Joseph, your reaction makes me very happy ♥

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  2. Emma I must tell you that this poem, this story, really touches me deep down inside my soul. I feel it so immensely. I pray that we sister stars can one day come across the "one" star. Find it. Transport it safely down to planet Earth. It is in my dreams that Earth will one day be restored to her natural existence. A restoration of Nature and of all the living creatures that belong there and have the right to live there. Even if it means the extinction of the worst enemy, humans, I pray to the sister stars to reclaim Earth's natural world. Thank you for the creation of such a beautiful story that enlightens my heart and gives me the hope and faith that we sister stars will continue our search together. This is beautiful Emma, simply beautiful. Deborah

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  3. Dear Emma, I burst into tears, can you believe it! Thank you Emma for taking me to the remote galaxies, still so close...deep inside myself. I felt belonging to the everlasting light of the stars, with all blessings they(we) could and will bring to this Home of us, beautiful Mother Earth!
    Dear Deborah, your comment full of zeal and deep desire coincides with my thoughts and desires!
    Thank you for my soul is trembling in the rhythm of these rhymes.

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