SAILOR’S CREEK

“Learn about the sky and how it moves, about the celestial
sphere and astronomical co-ordinates, about star magnitudes,
about finding your way around the heavens and using the best
observing techniques.”
ASTRONOMY, Robert Burnh

Trinkets & charms,
tricks causing harm,
talisman with comets to spare--
necromancy
my world gold fish in a bowl,
not golden carp imprisoned in yonder pond.

Incense, charcoal burners
Jupiter’s Red Spot
Titian, the Saurian moon,
amorphous loas & spirit trees,
fetishes/leaves
yet none of these
larvae or substance to follow
brief wedlock within water,
Mexican Feather Grass
& harmony of stones.

Walking the fire, star clouds,
the Cabal, Penumbra,
orbs & planets,
incantations,
a Magellan of mystery,
lovely lace of self
shimmers in the mirrors
glass and viscous velvet
amid precious amethysts set in jade
of one’s own Persona, the sacred grove,
twin boxes,
the soul enrobed in sky flesh.
A fish-hook of stars that form Scorpius,
the tea-pot stars marking Sagittarius.
Wonders above,
Marvels within.

“Look at the stars! Look at the skies!
O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!”
“The Starry Night,”
Gerald Manley Hopkins