Stillness, quiet and dark
the sky's dome hangs
pricked by stars

2000 years ago men from Rome built this
Weathered stones lasting testament
to sweaty energy of men long dead

Did they also look and marvel?
Starlight gleams yellow, blue, white, green
my thoughts spiral, how do they compare with the speed
of light? Some stars so far from earth they no longer exist
yet their light has just reached me

Mesmerised by a brilliant star
an astronomer somewhere will also see and name it
although the star was extinguished long ago
and now is nothing but light.