Such cool spring air has filled recent nightsdipping lowest in the pre-dawn dark.
Such a joy to keep my bedside window open,
fresh air on my face,
time to time kicking off covers,
getting chilled, then
slipping back under the sheet and quilt
seeking warmth.
At 5:30am, as is my schedule,
I stepped out into the drive
retrieving the newspaper, and
stood for a few minutes
gazing up at a clear, cool sky
brilliant with stars,
so much so the Milky Way stood out above the oaks,
and Jupiter, most brilliant,
with Scorpio in tow,
pulling the fearful monster westerly across the sky.
There were no planes along the jetway highway
that runs north and south high over my house;
the sky was still.
I stood still and looked deep,
wondering if I might pick out
the contra west-to-east movement
of a satellite;
and then I did.
The most faint heavenly body,
but the closest,
and most mysterious,
moving faster than any jet,
visible,
barely,
then gone.
The brief encounter made the morning complete
even before the sun's earliest light,
and softened any news
I might read in my unfolded paper
with my first cup of coffee.
04.07.06