Stargazing

We clutch our coats and watch the clouds unroll

the night. My jeans soak up the sky’s first thought

of dew, and shadows gather for a full

moon. Against the sky, trees stretch, branches taut

while darkness bays behind the treeline’s fence.

The stars weave tales of galaxies and suns;

of journeys ended and begun, portents

of consuming fire, of light dispatched to run

through years to reach us. Roaming shadows fill

the night, fires douse the sky; we laugh, remind

ourselves we lie in hollows of the hills

on dew-drenched grass: we search the void to find

a constellation. I raise my hand, which pales

and comes back inky, sky beneath the nails.

First published in 2012 in The Ivy Leaves Journal of Literature and Art, vol. 86, p. 108.