“Touching the Stars”

Tonight I sit alone on top of a verdant hill
Numbering the stars as the world stands still,
Wanting to touch  the natives of heaven
Through a deck sandwiched between God and Eden.

God’s kingdom does not seem far away,
It’s as close as the thoughts I wish to say;
Then, a song dares me to lure the sky nearer
By plucking the stars to hold God closer.

While the antique hill kisses the jeweled sky
I can almost touch the terrified stars nearby;
My puny arm strains to reach their perfection,
And measure God’s thoughts and His creation.

The diamond stars, stubborn to my reach,
Censure  me for my wanton breach:
“We’re in heaven in memory of the sun,
You’re on earth, a copy of the Great One.”

Then, from heaven a soft voice replies:
“Bard of the stars, you can’t work with lies:
If you can number the stars in a dark night
And lure them with a song in their fright,
Build your dreams beneath their lofty height
So My Love will guide you with their light.”

Thus, I ask no more  where stars must glow:
They in heaven, me on earth below;
I can’t have them nearer,
They can’t have me farther.

So I’m back to earth where I belong,
Where Life pours onward like a song:
Where all of mortals will be frozen,
Beneath the twilight soon forsaken. ###