Every year I love to lie beneath the stars in the summer. Especially when we are camping or up north at my folks’ cottage, I love to look up in wonder.

One of the highlights of visiting The Badlands was the Night Sky Program they offered. There in this amazing setting, a Park Ranger pointed out all the different stars, planets, and satellites blinking down at us.

We saw Jupiter and Mars and Saturn through high powered telescopes. We bonded with total strangers in the inky blackness, sharing stories of all the magic that happened under stars in our own lives.

I tried to capture a bit of the wonder and magic of falling stars in this poem.

falling stars

balls of fire, dancing 
like fireflies suspended on string.
oh how they careened down 
with a nod and a wink.

how many wishes 
were granted that night?
how many starstruck lovers 
closed their eyes and hoped? 

sometimes it is hard to imagine
that the death of a single star 
lingers long into the future,
touching all who see it.

lying beneath the fireworks, 
wishing and hoping for more,
praying not to be burned
by the smoldering embers.


—a draft by cjpjordan 

What wish would you make?