CONSTELLATION

Glossed with the sheen of gibbous moon

ink sky introduces the text of astronomy.

On the back steps I sit on my father’s lap

trying to see what he wants me to see.

With glasses flashing subtle

he tilts his face away from moon to mine,

aligns my sight with trajectory of his raised arm,

his wrist and hand my scope.

Upon the arc of night

trinity

of stars becomes a belt…

two stars above, now shoulders.

Below are starry knee and sword

Suddenly all coalesce, become Orion.

Later I will meet the Pleiades,

shy sisters hiding in a cloud of stars,

and recognize two dippers filled with sky.

Tonight

in the proximity of my father’s embrace

I discover the infinite.