[Martin Elster]

Chester’s Heavenly Feast

Where once there was a moon, now there is only empty space
And twinkling specks. A dog named Chester stuffed his wolfish face
With all that cheese (I mean the moon). One starry summer night,
His master, through a telescope, was gazing at the bright

And dazzling objects overhead, while Chester’s eyes saw motion —
But not behind the hedges, trees, or in the meadow’s ocean
Of grass and weeds and flowers; what he saw was the full moon
Now rising in the east. He leaped and snatched the fat balloon

And shook it till it gasped its last. Then Chester had a feast,
The yummiest one ever. The pale orange, rotund beast
Normally moved unhurriedly and never thought a day
Would come when she’d be plucked like a plump grape and put away

By a mangy mutt. Yet, he not only lives to tunes digestial,
That dog, like master, also lives by melodies celestial;
And, thus, combines his predilection for things gastronomical
With hobbies and pursuits that you might label astronomical.