[Martin Elster]

In the Dark

As Arcturus sinks into the west and Vega winks as if in jest
and Cygnus floats on the filmy milk of the Galaxy as slow
and stately as an ocean liner overlooked by Ursa Minor,
as Lyra strums a song of silk, joined by Scorpio,

who shakes his tail in a raucous rattle, while Hercules sings songs of battle,
three figures in the moonless night meander by the cedar
across ten billion blades of grass with beads of dew as bright as brass,
lost beneath the cosmic light — two canines and their leader.

While the biped scans the universe as if it were a puzzle in verse,
the dogs explore the ancient scroll of Earth’s vast potpourri.
One studies distant suns while tripping on roots and stones, another’s dripping
from dipping himself in the swimming-hole, while the third one sniffs a tree.

As the stars revolve but never change and a mockingbird shows off his range
and bullfrogs croak and crickets croon and katies katydid,
while bats hunt bugs by ultrasound and a rabbit bounds and a fox slinks round,
the threesome amble to a tune outside the city’s lid.


Stanza 3, Line 4: "swimming-hole" was "sedge-trimmed hole" was "cattail hole."
Tweak in the last line: "the city’s lid" was "their city's lid."