Star struck

The smell of camel clinging to the cold night air;
spicing each breath I take.
The pool as still as ice; an inky blackness breathing dampness;
misting the mirror of the sky.

I am at the water’s edge alone;
idly counting stars and wondering.
The pool’s black skin is peppered with a
thousand points of light. Each one I know by name
and even recognise in watery reflection.

Stars beneath me. Stars above me.
I stoop to stir the waters with my hand.
One by one the ripples crawl away; circle upon circle, sliding silently as ghosts.

I watch the star reflections bending, bobbing,
bouncing as the waves glide through.
Each constellation quivers in its course.

The ripples run in silent provocation; disrupting patterns of a million years.

I stand; my hand still dripping, fingers faintly shining in the dark.
A shiver runs across my skin; not of cold
but of strange and awesome revelation.

I look to where the guiding star still fiercely burns,
outshines the moon;
a stranger far eclipsing all familiar signs.

I sense a presence in this swarm of stars above.

I almost glimpse a shape, man-like,
move as a shadow in the heavens;
gliding through the gaps behind the stars,
dipping his finger in the ether of galaxies;
stooping to send great ripples
through the old established order of our lives.

The star reflections in the pool still dance to unknown music.
The camel chews the cud in sleep.

Tomorrow brings me closer to my quest but tonight I will
sleep in strange and unfamiliar joy
and dream of starlight dancing in dark water
and dream of Godhood stooping near the earth to shake us
and to break our chains.

(c) AMcN


The Magi - wise men from the East. God revealed himself as much to those studying the stars as He did to those studying the scriptures. Science pursued with reverence and wonder is sometimes very close to worship. I am reminded of Kepler's quote "O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee."