Walking Among The Stars

We took a night hike through the woods…our path lit only by the moon Along the way we heard crickets, coyotes and Chuck-Will's-Widows croon A hike in the quiet of the evening is always captivating! but what made this hike more special were the telescopes that were waiting. For when our hike was over…spreading out before our eyes… The St. Pete Astronomy club had set their lenses up…pointing at the sky. They offered us a close-up look…a kind of walk among the stars… where we observed the crescent shape of Venus…a glowing Sirius and Mars. As we walked upon the surface and then into the craters of the moon for a little while on that evening…with the heavens we were attuned… And while we were thinking how special the Earth is to have one moon we adore… we were shown the planet Jupiter and her moons…we counted four! We learned about the constellations and the stories the Greeks had spun… We learned how the stars shine with their own light but how the planets need the sun. After a while clouds blanketed the sky…shutting off all planet and starlight… as if the moon was telling us we'd seen enough…it's time to say goodnight. As we walked away we glanced one last time…up at that heavenly sea… which for years we've been amazed at all our naked eyes could see… But now we have a new appreciation for the moon, for Venus, for Jupiter and Mars… and we will never see them the same way again…having walked among the stars.