You stare out at the night sky,
can even name the constellations.
And you’ve read enough to know
that stars are just flaming gas,
burning themselves to extinction.
And then there’s glow-in-the-dark variety,
pasted to the ceiling by someone standing in a chair.
And you’re well up on the lights in the night sky,
how it takes so long to get here,
and what we see is not really happening.
Not so with glow-in-the-dark stars.
Their shine is of the instant.
Flip the switch, lie back on the bed,
look up, and there’s only now.
The faraway is worth dwelling on.
But you fall asleep believing in the near.
