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The Astronomer
a poem about an astronomer
She knows the constellations
girdling the night, knows
which pinprick of light
buckles the belt of Orion,
which gleam bares
the wheat in Virgo’s hand.
In every season she charts
stellar motion in a dance
of mathematics, Polaris as zero
holding, like the eye of God
immutable and fixed.
This is what she’s always trusted
the heavens so large and sure
there can never be any error,
any uncertainty of her place amid
the milky tangle of stars.
As she works
the Earth is resettling itself
against the Sun, moving
like a sleeper drugged with dreams
that will be forgotten by dawn.
Draco the Dragon is raising
his head above the horizon,
sweeping Polaris aside
with the slow swirl of his tail.
She watches as the heavens move
beyond her calculations,
precession pulling Polaris
out of her reach like cosmic wind
scattering the dust of stars.
__________
Copyright 2009 Marguerite Floyd all rights reserved
This poem first appeared in Everyone’s Daughter, 2009
