Open Letter to the Stars

friends,

it has been a long time

since we were last

all together

it does me good to see you

remember when last

i looked long into

your eyes winking

at all things easily believed

we always asked each other

the same question:

how can people disbelieve

God’s existence

when you

exist?

since we last spoke

i’ve met some doubters

i’ve been one, also

i have searched and

this is what I have found

people don’t doubt God

for lack of stars

we forsake him

in anger

in fear

and most often

in disappointment

sometimes-

sometimes it’s one big old

bright Red Dwarf

who dies

in the night that was

only one star away from

too dark to see

sometimes-

sometimes it’s small hopes

and prayers burning out subtly

among so many other delayed hopes and

so much unknown emptiness

the lack goes unnoticed for

light-years

for

a moment

let’s just sit here together

pretending to be still

all the while spinning

see if we can just

exist

together

for this moment

without any of us dying

squint at each other as

i try in vain to count you all

as you struggle to

distinguish the hairs on my head

for all the distance and darkness

light pollution and constant turning

none of us succeed

we are but rubbernecked passersby’s

over shoulders

out corners of eyes questioning

the accident

it seems we are

i laugh

at my smallness in light of

your vast quantity

and epic individuality

for you are suns and earths

of men

like me…

remember us on

unlit legs of back country roads

legs on car hoods

backs on windshields?

remember us on still lake

at summer camp?

we stood with many
now-fallen comrades
then still fighting

to believe