The Astronomer by Grace Centanni

The Astronomer

A lighted window next door: friends playing cards.
Inside, his wife is catching up on blogs.
A cold wind rises in the invisible pines. Stars flicker.
His booted feet in snow, he hunches over the instrument,
pulls a hand out of gloves to fiddle with the knobs.
A million light years away, the sky’s plain floods
with light. With one eye closed he holds the nebula
as on a black cloth: transfixed and attentive the mind
feels no ache, no chill, nothing but that perfect, dancing stillness.

by Grace Centanni, first appeared in St. Anne’s Review

Editor’s Note: This poem highlights that perfect moment of attention when everything in the universe fades into the background while the most important thing in the universe speaks.