Photos & Wonders
The stars nestling in the arms of the clear blue skies,
the silence of the expansive Mojave Desert,
the lone Joshua tree bearing witness to beauty and solitude.
And me, taking star photos with my SLR camera,
looking up at the sky,
at dreams, memories, hopes, wishes, possibilities,
all resting in the relaxing hammock of the universe.
The camera’s on for fifteen seconds, and then it shows on the screen:
countless stars, millions of miles away,
sprinkled across the dark blue skies, like little gifts given to the solar system,
akin to the gift given to me: my precious camera,
a medium for me to connect with the amazement of the night skies.
Thank you, dear one, for without you,
I wouldn’t have been able to take hundreds of photos of the Milky Way,
of concentric star trails centered around the north star,
of meteor showers dancing across the sky at thirty-thousand miles-per-hour.
Without you, I would’ve been divorced from the magical wonder that the night sky offers,
the wonder that nourishes me when my soul is hungry, when my body needs to smile,
when my mind wants to relax.
Those are gifts you take from the universe,
process them and place them in my hands,
soft hands that are now glistening with joy, inspiration and, most of all,
gratitude.
