Odyssey From Africa 16b

16b Stargazing Here they filed into a hallway Into almost total darkness Just a pair of flick’ring candles Led them to an inner circle At its center was a platform Where a single chair was mounted At an angle, facing upward And a scholar there was seated Then they heard the sound of turning Of the handles and the gearing Of a powerful mechanism Till they saw above an opening Saw a sudden blaze of starlight Pierce the darkness straight above them As the overhead roof panels Parted to reveal the heavens From the darkness of the chamber On the isolated hilltop The effect was very striking As their eyes took in the grandeur Of a million points of starlight Lucid in the inky blackness In the pristine ancient air, the Stars blazed clear in all their glory As a sparkling silver cloud, the Milky Way was clear as crystal Stars revealed their subtle shades And colours to unaided eyesight Han with Ptolemy the king both Stood and stared in silent wonder Now the scholars in the chamber Set to work with careful purpose This was no mere recreation As the scholar who was seated In the center gave instructions To his colleagues who responded By engaging some equipment Raised above the central platform Han now noticed tiny symbols Moving through the air above them Held on finest threads of sisal They were carefully positioned To align with heavenly objects As seen by the person seated In the chair of observation. Round the margin of the hall were Tables lit by shaded candles Where the scholars studied star charts And they carefully recorded Special motions of the heavens Planets moving independent Of the thousand charted star-fields Han, though growing now accustomed To the wonders of the kingdom Could not help but feel astounded By the method and the workings Of the king’s observatory In their study of the heavens As a scholar now approached them She addressed the king directly: “Hear O king of our observing Of the stars, the moon and planets And the charting of the progress Of the bodies through the heavens “Which both singly and together Act on our capricious planet For this very night our scholars Have foreseen a new arrangement “Which in time should still the storm tides And ensure a safer passage For the sailing of Australis, As some moons ago we witnessed “An eclipsing of the full moon As earth, moon and sun together Were aligned in a syzygy And this raised a surging spring tide