Just Past Dusk

the still chill of
the night air
the clouds in the
horizon
they weave and
intertwine together
smearing themselves in
homage
to the glowing full moon
hardly visible
behind the
broad leaves
and spanning branches
of a dark, still oak tree
the tips and
tops of pine trees
stand inarticulate
reaching towards the
just barley lit up sky
moths hovering over flowers
hardly visible in the
dim light
behind the masses of
pastel clouds

are the stars
mysteriously covered, they hide
within the blanket of clouds
they decide to come out
at a time when the figures become
nothing but silhouettes
I look upon
the brightest of the stars
the most visible, clear
though thousands of miles away
the sea of sparkled lights
remembering

how many other nights I
looked up into
the same faces and
constellations, looking back
at me
childhood memories of camp-outs
bonfires, 4th of Julys
lying across the hoods of cars
while crickets chirp in the distance.
the hundreds of thousands of years ago
when people still glimpsed these sights
and still we find ourselves
amazed and inspired

and that feeling, of feeling small
nothing compared to the vastness
of the night sky
I find myself looking straight into
the beauty of the stars,
again and again,
forever the night sky