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
Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2018
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