21st December 2020
Out we’ve come, to walk the empty road
With crescent moon and mild wild wind:
Such a rain-loud cloud-bound spell there’s been
With us longing, longing to see stars again!
And there they are, and there they are:
Night’s winterfrist glitters, time-cast far.
Whose constellations charting the sky
Prompt many thoughts, all starting ‘Why…?’
No charge to pay for this priceless view:
If we desire it, then I and you
Just need to pull on coats and boots
And gloves and hats –
And ‘Toodle-oo!’ to snoozing cat,
Reassuring, ‘Soon be back!’
And if he understands, he thinks
That when, at our bedtime, off he slinks…
We must have gone ahead to check
His stars are set out bright, correct
For his navigation, field and fell:
For feline triangulation, though we can’t tell
Just how he uses that stellar view –
But he surely does, that must be true!
Because we do catch him, on the stairs,
Head tilted for a skylight stare;
Reckon he knows far better which is where
Than we, who ought to also care.
We should learn the name and know the place
Of the brightest diamonds aburn in space.
While he, without plans as we would know
Has the lie of the land, whereever he goes;
Thus with accurate ears and clear eyes so wide
He roams the night with confident stride…
And his nose, of course, don’t that forget:
It so helps him his Knowledge get
To tell the brain, and know the where…
And prowl around without a sound.
© Christopher Jessop 2020
