The furthest sky at night is
the ceiling of our dreams,
the enticing soft geometry
of desire, and we know
its brightness, sight unseen.
The frozen stars, the years of light,
of interstellar vacuum, once swirled
with all my childish magic,
but now those future ghosts are gone,
their tinsel’s faded to a glimmer.
Yet when the moon is sweet and full,
an opalescent lark
flutters wings upon my pillow,
and her flame calls out
the burning yesterdays,
the birefringent fires
of my becoming.
Once in the hush of night
I thought I heard her whisper—
You use the gift of your imaginings
to watch Narcissus
as he plucks his eyebrows in the mirror,
but you could see another place,
that still your world might be.
background
- Poet’s Picnic in Collected Poems of Michael Dransfield (1948-1973), University of Queensland Press, 1993
- discovery of the Proxima b planet which may support life, 4.3 light years distant, nearby and still so far away
- my short story the water moon which appeared in Fantasy Scroll Magazine, where the imaginary moon is a little old-fashioned but a great place for a holiday
artwork
the furthest sky, numerical abstract art
Love this. And the artwork is amazing (as always).
Thanks. The artwork is from a dream I had. Ha ha, no. My dreams are more like waiting in line at the supermarket with a penguin in my shopping cart.
https://youtu.be/Ch856qKv6nQ maybe it wasn’t a dream after all…. 🙂
Come to think of it, I did buy a penguin in a supermarket once. They’re so cute.
“the ceiling of our dreams” = beautiful – made me think of space and then infinity and so then – there is no limit to our dreaming, possibilities are endless 🙂
Thanks. I have to admit the first two stanzas just popped into my head. Loved the wistful feel of ‘Imprint.’
Thank you – wistful – I like that – imprint started as literal response to the shell I saw on the beach – then rapidly became something more than that 🙂
I now need to investigate dictionary for “birefringent” 😉
I can’t deny my physics background, but in my defense, the effect of dual refractive indices is to create multiple images and rainbow patterns 😛
a-ha – my mind is split on the light rays of your words (I love that this draws so much on science even tho i don’t pretend to grasp it first time round)
the bright refractions of clarity 😛
my favourite so far; i hadn’t thought about dreams having ceilings before but i suppose they do. also thanks for following and checking out my poetry, i appreciate it steve. mel.
Thanks Mel, I value the feedback. I enjoy the feeling of your pieces, especially the combo with the artworks.
Whew. The imagery is out of this world. Pun intended. 🙂
For over a century in the realish world, physicists have been saying they’ve just about reached the end. Now they think they can’t look beyond this universe. And in speculative fiction, people say there are no new ideas.
I say guess again, the furthest sky is further away and closer than we think. Stepping off soapbox now :).
Oh yeah, Proxima b … wondered when they’d discover my home base. Love your words on here.
It’s a great honor having extraterrestrial appreciation of my work. Live long and prosper and er … Klaatu barada nikto?
Great – really loved your words.
Glad you liked it. I’m trying to use more words that you can find in a dictionary now. Preferably an English dictionary :).
Thank you for reading some of my work. I’m returning the favour and am delighted by the strength of your words and the threads of meaning and imagery they create. Do you do the accompanying art too?
Thanks, Moira. I attempt everything, far more than I should :).