Looking Up
Sept 21 2009


When the power was cut
I stood stock-still
in sudden darkness.
But the silence
is what surprised me most —
the fluorescent buzz
the whirr of a clock
the fridge’s comforting hum,
all abruptly gone.

And then my eyes adjusted;
to the sliver of moon,
the stray light
of stars.
Nothing to do
but go outside, and walk.

As our ancestors have done
for tens of thousands of years
before the last century;
when night became glamorous
and we fought-off sleep
and felt ourselves fearless
and stopped looking up.

Until a night like this
is given to us.
When constellations crowd the sky;
and ever fainter stars
appear in bunches,
filling empty space
with light,
looking all the way back
in time.

My eyes area open wide
drinking-in the universe,
my ears
on hair-trigger alert.
And the clocks
have all stopped counting;
which feels like time is free
like permission to finally breathe.
As houses empty
the streets are filled,
politely excusing ourselves
as we gently bump into each other.
Everyone, out walking;
in wonder, looking up.