Rendezvous

Long past the midnight hour we ventured out
into the wheeling stardome as the moon slipped off
the sky, sliding to the world beyond the dark horizon.

Then it was only starlight and darkness;
and you and me, tethered together by the cords of love
that only fathers and daughters know.

Like ancient navigators we stood amidst
the swell of landscapes in a sea of wheat where
trees and hedges frothed like dark
white horses on a hidden reef.

We took our bearings from the sky
(heaven always more dependable than earth...).
From star to star, legend to legend we grew;
Cassiopeia to Capella, Perseus to Andromeda;
the great square of Pegasus winged across the south.

As we spoke the wonder watered our imaginations
till they grew like flowers of the night.
The Milky Way defied our counting;
a distant smudge of galaxy defied our sense of time and space.
I knew at once why wolves howl at the moon...

Together we gazed awestruck
at the face of deep infinity, and felt not fear but marvel
at the purpose of our lives.

If ever we be parted from each other
and we long to know each other’s closeness once again,
promise me we’ll rendezvous under Andromeda,
between Pegasus and Perseus at the gates of infinity
where heaven kisses earth and souls ride
winged steeds of love and memory across the speckled sky.

(c) A McN

She was much younger then. We went out to do some work for a Guider's badge and came back with something special etched in memory