"Like a snowflake falling on water."

[browngirl]

I need a poem today, I think.

FLYING AT NIGHT

Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.


from Flying at Night
Ted Kooser

Comments

[med_cat]

Beautiful :) Love the similes. Thank you for sharing!

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

you do have an exquisite taste in poetry! - thanks for sharing this one - what is it that speaks to you in "Flying at Night"?

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I know you didn't mean it to, but that somehow soothes me now.

Here is something of mine that is distant kin in subject, a cha'logh vagh (lit. 'twice five') inspired by seeing Comet Hale-Bopp and the total lunar eclipse of that night from an airplane flying west. Translation follows.

97319 muDDujvo'

    'etDaq lIy vIlegh
    'o'Daq ngab maSwov
    HurghchoH 'engmey Dung
    chal mInmey vIvan
    'IH ramvam wanI'

Translation:

Forward I see the comet
Aft the moonlight disappears
Above the clouds it grows dark
I salute the eyes of the sky
Tonight's event is beautiful

[bearfairie.livejournal.com]

mmm lovely.

I had a dream about you last night. Isn't that odd? In the dream, you came to CA and I picked you up at the airport which looked alarmingly like an outdoor mall. You brought me presents - a beautiful paper mask you'd made yourself with elaborate patterns cut out of the forehead, and a smoky quartz sphere, about the size of a baseball. We giggled and window shopped and I introduced you to my partner and you guys got along famously. I don't remember much else but I woke up smiling and decided I had to tell you about it.