Hope in the Stars

It’s that time of year again
Where we can see Cassiopeia overhead
The lazy W tightly orbiting the North Star all year
Then we find Deneb sinking lower in the sky
The brightest star in Cygnus, the swan

Tonight the moon is too bright for more
It lights up the night and casts shadows in the snow
You could walk through the woods without a flashlight
We agree on that, but stay in the hot tub

My dad is reading a book by an astronaut
Michael Collins, a member of the Apollo 11 crew
I see the appeal–there’s adventure up there
In our fiction and in our history
There’s hope in the stars

But part of me hopes we never truly reach them
Too much opportunity to blemish worlds beyond our own
Leave the solar systems untouched for the dreamers, the pioneers, the explorers
Or, if the billionaires insist on riding rockets, let them stay a galaxy away

With Love,

Natalie