Stars in my hair

I lay on my back on the dark, dew-slicked grass,
and gazed at the gaps between the stars.

But when I raised my binoculars
to the empty spaces
they had filled with a twinkling of lights
swarming like bright bees
in the black circles of vision.

But even in this swarm
lay darknesses between the lights
so I took a telescope to study
the little gaps between
the little stars.

But when I looked,
even the little gaps brimmed with tiny stars and the
fuzzy smudge of galaxies.

The more I stared,
the more the darkness wasn't there,
the velvet black
merely a diminution
of the light
between the brighter stars.

I lay pondering,
and fell asleep with stars in my hair,
feathering my face with light
and my dreams
with wondering.

(c) A Mc N