Star Gazing

 

Closing the curtains last night, my eyes were drawn to the sky which was a mass of glittering stars.  So I went outside and 

"I stood and stared; the sky was lit,

The sky was stars all over it,

I stood, I knew not why,

Without a wish, without a will, 

I stood upon that silent hill

And stared into the sky until 

My eyes were blind with stars and still 

I stared into the sky."

(Ralph Hodgson,1871-1962)

I stayed for quite a while, mesmerised by the scene above my head.  How many times have I seen stars across my life? - yet, a star-filled sky moves me, affects me as though each sighting was the first.  

The gems twinkling under the lights of their display cases in jewellers' shop windows don't arrest my attention or stop me in my tracks as I pass by.  But these heavenly bodies that are so far away draw me to them, have a magnetic pull on my heart and soul that have me standing or sitting until my neck hurts and I am numb with cold.  Even then, it is difficult to leave their company and go back indoors.  

I opened the curtains before getting into bed so that I could fall asleep with my last memory of yesterday being a glimpse of that star-filled sky.