The Gift of Perseus
by Wulf Losee
(for Linda)

High in the Sierras we seem closer to the stars.
We watch quick spears of light that fall from Perseus --
Threads of burning iron that streak across the atmosphere.
Rising embers from our fire. Falling embers from the sky.

Boulders clatter in the torrents of the gorge below,
Smashed by entropy's flow that wears down high mountains,
Smoothes them into cobbles, and then to sand, to dust.
Gods and their hammers will disturb our sleep this night.

We ascended the trails on the day's moving shadows.
Gargoyle faces in the cliffs observed us as we climbed,
And we were naked under the gaze of their granite eyes.
But night hides us from the cold stare of ancient stones.

As we doze off, a meteor shatters on the air.
It flares and is then extinguished by the liquid night
Leaving us alone with the stars that hang and shimmer
Above the enfolded darkness of a world in space.