One Star, Tonight

I look to the dark sky,
without my glasses
the night is fuzz,
I am in the warm pool
desert midnight - there you are,
star dandelion
here you are
splintered glass
rainbow light
ready
to blow away-
where you are
here and there
you hold steady, and everywhere
before you emerge
and merge
with me
and I touch you
with a finger, the same finger
I fingered on the oak tree
where you slipped
from your body
the way a snake
parts with its outgrown skin
and swims away
through the tall grass
through the sea sky
where, here,
you and I part
and meet
again
in the dark places
while all around us
it will be this way -
eternally, always was
the way stars
break apart
the way galaxies
are born
and die
and remain
unseen

--Ruth Nolan
copyright(c) 2010 by Ruth Nolan