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Counting Constellations

Stars have a language all their own.

By Jillian SpiridonPublished 3 years ago 1 min read
4
Counting Constellations
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

The stars blinked at her through the sun roof

as her mother peeled the car out of the driveway,

and only one look back through the rearview

was the last time she saw her dad's face.

Twenty years and a few therapy sessions later,

she found herself tracing the Big Dipper one night

and wondered just what it was all for, this life.

She could count the places on her fingertips—

all the way from Sacramento to Chicago—

where her mother had thought they could live

a new life with all the days before left behind.

The only constants had been the stars,

each one steadfast in the night sky,

as she tried to find pictures in the dark.

By Hamish Weir on Unsplash

Even as the years clipped away her naivete,

she still found herself looking up star charts

and telling herself their stories as if they were

her own tales from long, long ago—

another life, an existence she'd forgotten,

some myth that truly was hers to own.

The locations changed, the scope shifted,

but still her stars greeted her by nightfall,

breathing as if they were one with her.

Her eyes grew dim with age, as they did,

until the world was eclipsed in shadow,

but in her mind's eye she still remembered

how the stars would always welcome her home,

truer than anything she had ever known.

By Patrick Carr on Unsplash

Did you enjoy this poem? There are others over on my profile page. If you'd like to chat with me about writing, follow me over on Twitter. And don't forget to leave a heart before you leave! Any support is much appreciated.

nature poetry
4

About the Creator

Jillian Spiridon

just another writer with too many cats

twitter: @jillianspiridon

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