by Tony Berendsen
- Published: Monday, December 13 2010 08:00
Oh how we wonder
As new water before the snow line forms
This great existence may be
Persistent as the earthly steps
Of oceans filled with roving things.
We see as we see those wonders
In celestial dance
And, as we have learned
The enemy to be our eyes and souls
So for what the millennia of toil
Our tools and every bit of self extol
A world not of ours to share this beastly place
Be alone in outer space
Or find Copernican grace.
--Tony Berendsen
Fireflies
It was a cool snowy morning
The Truckee Meadows was between
Warming for spring and holding on to winter
Her hair was held tight to her head
The knit cap warming her ears
She spoke to me about her love of astronomy
And how she gave it up for reality
When she was young the fireflies
Were stars fallen from heaven
But now her interest in gardening
Keeps her warm as a knit cap
She told me I could trim back
The bushes to the ground in the winter
And they will grow back in the spring.
--Tony Berendsen
In submitting these two poems, the author wrote, “One is about perspective, and the other about a gardener I met on the University campus last winter; she had been fascinated by astronomy in her youth but her family was poor and so she gave up her dream. There is still time for her though, as I note in the last three lines.”
Tony Berendsen (www.tahoestartours.com) lives in Reno, Nevada, U.S.A. and conducts astronomy-theme tours in the Lake Tahoe area.
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