My Father's Stars

My Father's Stars

I had no need to learn about the stars --

You knew them all, your wondrous stellar friends.

The maze of constellations' fancy scars

You traced like lifelines on celestial hands.

For poets and dreamers nothing is too high

To notice, study, ponder, touch, rejoice...

Stars danced above us in the endless sky

Bewitched by quiet music of your voice.

Tonight I glanced above at Northern Cross

(The rest are hidden from me since you’re gone)

And piercing silence of unrelenting loss

Cut through the web of life that must go on.

First published in Every Day Poets in 2012.

Image: credits go to my brother. My Father and I are in our improvised summer camp on the bank of the Sozh river. He proclaims me a milk drinking contest champion (I hated my daily milk drinking duty but didn't mind the champion title).