Counting Stars

On evenings when the air hugs me like warm, damp cotton,
While crickets and cicadas buzz among the branches of the oaks...
Or on those nights when my moist breath hangs in clouds on cool, dry air,
I find myself running through a familiar routine...
Looking into the indigo blue of a clear night sky...
Counting Stars

As a boy I lay in deep Bahia grass with the earth pressed against my spine,
Eyes wandering a night sky in search of alien craft and shooting stars...
Then as a teenager, confused, feeling lonely and incredibly small,
I could always find a quiet spot and a piece of starry blackness...
A personal place that never seemed to change and always invited me in...
To come and share in the vastness of a nighttime sea of lights...
Counting stars

Seasons cycle as sunset follows sunrise all with the rhythm of time,
And with it I became upright and tall and took my place among men...
And as I've aged I've had to make a great many decisions,
Some were good, some were bad, and for some the outcome is still unknown...
And of those that I thought were so right, many turned out wrong...
In reflection I'm tired and I hurt, longing for the sky...
Counting Stars

In the midst of the dull and sedentary sameness of my day to day,
I've rediscovered a part of my life that's brought me new joy...
Yet, as is the case with treasures found late, it comes with a price,
Time and distance act as walls that thwart a communion of souls...
Giving the rekindled flame of serenity an unwanted coolness...
Leaving me alone to gaze at the shared velvet blackness...
Counting Stars

In the hustle and bustle of humanity surrounding us each day,
And in the frustrations that follow and befall us every one...
With people reaching out from this smallness to cling to life,
I can take comfort in the daily arc and fall of each day's sun...
Awaiting the coming of Morpheus and his heavy cloak of darkness...
Knowing that distance at least can be forever bridged...
Counting Stars