The Night Sky

("The Night Sky", 2013, original oil) The Night Sky Ironic that finding our way In the deep pitch black of night Is truer than anything we can find by day. As the world spins on its axis The Pole Star remains The guiding light. Eight stars then show the way The central and Big Dipper seven Even a child can see. Thus the ubiquitous eight pointed stars Of Persian rugs Reminding us again and again. The oldest text known to man Is from an Egyptian pyramid Forty three hundred years ago. It’s an ascent guide For the righteous pharaoh Unas Laying out the stairway to heaven. And within its enigmatic verses cryptic poetry hides Practical symbolism of the ascent. “May the bread fly up! May the bread continue to fly up To the seven houses of the Red Crown!” What is this stairway to heaven then This first text of man proclaims If not the path we each take. By day as we wander blindly and By night guided by the bright unmoving star As we fly directly with unerring sight. Thus does poetry reveal The two sides the ladder’s rungs hang upon The inner and outer union of psyche and substance. As above so below As within so without Rising up the bread does fly. (2/24/24)