The Mighty Lightness of Being

I have not seen
The Milky Way
Since I was a boy
Growing up on Illinois’
Grassy prairies.
It stretched like a tent
Horizon to horizon
Across the night sky
Like God
Was having a party
And I was invited.

How I celebrated
Beneath the spangle
And struggled to imagine
The vast enormity of it all.

Life danced for me then
Charmed me
With all its perplexities.

But the universe shank
And the stars dimmed
Lost amid the dust
The mangle and pain.

I loved the banners of light
Joyously suspended
In the cosmos.
I loved the marvel of creation.

Now I shudder
Beneath the stars
Far fewer in number.
I turn from majesty
And retire from joy.

The world is a yawning chasm.
Every step
Is toward its edge.

But I will again
Lift my head
To the star fields
And my voice will rise
As a choir of one
When finally unburdened
Of the mighty
Lightness of being.