Are you the surge, triggering the flight of the transcending bird?
the  ultimate mystery, unspeakable, that liberates the seeker.
While awaiting the wingless flight, the moment of soul's effulgence,
you too are a mystery , like the all encompassing spirit, I am one with

The universe is not wholly cognizable,constant transformation
one to something drastically different, and the story never ends.
Known physics, could tell the story,only halfway, the rest is dark
I understand the helplessness of space observatory at Herschel
peering at vast Magellanic cloud galaxy, a mystery in the move.

“However long we live, life is short and however important man becomes, he is nothing compared to the stars. There are secrets, dear sister, and it is for us to reveal them.”

The world was against her, right from the start,

Wrong time and wrong gender; a mother’s hard heart.

Typhus as a child, fever and chill,

And though unlike many, recovery from ill

She never grew much beyond four feet tall

Perhaps this is why she rose above of it all,

To become a groundbreaker, a real pioneer,

Caroline Herschel – the woman once here.



Denied education, trained only to serve

It was going to take some dedication, some dare and some verve

To get the hell out of 18th Century Germany

And join her brother William across the wide sea.

He was already the talk of the town,

With his songs and his concerts and his wig and his gown.

She joined in the singing but never did blend

Into life, society – no status, no friend.



But now was her chance to start to learn,

And now was her chance to start to earn.

A sibling as your tutor is a real mixed blessing

For algebra, geometry, trigonometry lessons.

He also taught her to sing like a bird,

But she felt trapped in his cage, and refused to be heard,

At any concerts that weren’t his own.

Blood thicker than water and loyal to the bone.



Soon the sky became William’s wanderlust,

Astronomy called, leaving scores gathering dust.

And although she desired to still share her own voice,

She worked to support him, did she have any choice?

She referred to herself as his “well trained pup”;

Doing as he commanded, as they both looked up,

To the stars and recorded whatever they found.

Through the telescopes he built and the lenses she ground.



In March 1781 he was victorious!

His superior telescope discovered Uranus!

It meant one last concert and then her voice no longer heard,

As he became court astronomer to King George the Third.

But it wasn’t just her singing that she felt had been taken,

But her own astronomy practice, as she was always making,

The parts for his scope – hours of polishing with care,

And climbing to fit them, fifty feet up in the air.

“I am much hindered in my practice by my help being continually wanted in the execution of the various astronomical contrivances.”



This Celestial Cinderella was told to ‘sweep’ the sky,

She found she had quite a flair for it; she found she had an eye,

For nebulae, comets, hundreds of stars no man had seen,

Sitting for hours in dark frosty fields with no other human being.

Then after years as his go to girl, events begin to change,

William fell for rich widow Mary Pitt – Caroline’s life was rearranged.

He moved in here, they moved her on, she’d lost her role, for now,

But when William died her nephew John took her back to The Observatory in Slough.



The first ever woman in the world to be paid,

For the contribution to science that she made.

Honorary Member was bestowed on she,

By the totally male Royal Astronomical Society.

They awarded a Gold medal in 1828,

The next woman had 160 years to wait (Vera Rubin fact fiends)

And in her 96th year, for doing her thing,

A Gold Medal for Science; from the Prussian King.



Buried with a lock of William’s hair,

The headstone of her grave declares:

“The eyes of her who is glorified here below

turned to the starry heavens” – yet though,

where other mortals just have granite to be remembered by,

Caroline has markers in the sky:

A place on the moon, ever dancing with earth;

A Comet of ice with a tail of fire bursts.

A remarkable woman, an inspiration to us

Who made her mark on the cosmos, without any fuss.


But there’s just one thing that’s getting me down –

Remembered in this universe, but not in this town.



I’ve minded the heavens, but now I must,

Return to the universe, once more to star dust.

A century of this life for me is enough.

The cosmos is within us. We’re made of such stuff.



anna jones ©2016

835

Nature and God—I neither knew
Yet Both so well knew me
They startled, like Executors
Of My identity.

Yet Neither told—that I could learn—
My Secret as secure
As Herschel’s private interest
Or Mercury’s affair—

À M. Louis Boulanger.

Away ! - Away ! -
(En avant ! En avant !)
BYRON, Mazeppa.


I.

Ainsi, quand Mazeppa, qui rugit et qui pleure,
A vu ses bras, ses pieds, ses flancs qu'un sabre effleure,
Tous ses membres liés
Sur un fougueux cheval, nourri d'herbes marines,
Qui fume, et fait jaillir le feu de ses narines
Et le feu de ses pieds ;

Quand il s'est dans ses nœuds roulé comme un reptile,
Qu'il a bien réjoui de sa rage inutile
Ses bourreaux tout joyeux,
Et qu'il retombe enfin sur la croupe farouche,
La sueur sur le front, l'écume dans la bouche,
Et du sang dans les yeux,

Un cri part ; et soudain voilà que par la plaine
Et l'homme et le cheval, emportés, hors d'haleine,
Sur les sables mouvants,
Seuls, emplissant de bruit un tourbillon de poudre
Pareil au nuage noir où serpente la foudre,
Volent avec les vents !

Ils vont. Dans les vallons comme un orage ils passent,
Comme ces ouragans qui dans les monts s'entassent,
Comme un globe de feu ;
Puis déjà ne sont plus qu'un point noir dans la brume,
Puis s'effacent dans l'air comme un flocon d'écume
Au vaste océan bleu.

Ils vont. L'espace est grand. Dans le désert immense,
Dans l'horizon sans fin qui toujours recommence,
Ils se plongent tous deux.
Leur course comme un vol les emporte, et grands chênes,
Villes et tours, monts noirs liés en longues chaînes,
Tout chancelle autour d'eux.

Et si l'infortuné, dont la tête se brise,
Se débat, le cheval, qui devance la brise,
D'un bond plus effrayé,
S'enfonce au désert vaste, aride, infranchissable,
Qui devant eux s'étend, avec ses plis de sable,
Comme un manteau rayé.

Tout vacille et se peint de couleurs inconnues :
Il voit courir les bois, courir les larges nues,
Le vieux donjon détruit,
Les monts dont un rayon baigne les intervalles ;
Il voit ; et des troupeaux de fumantes cavales
Le suivent à grand bruit !

Et le ciel, où déjà les pas du soir s'allongent,
Avec ses océans de nuages où plongent
Des nuages encor,
Et son soleil qui fend leurs vagues de sa proue,
Sur son front ébloui tourne comme une roue
De marbre aux veines d'or !

Son oeil s'égare et luit, sa chevelure traîne,
Sa tête pend ; son sang rougit la jaune arène,
Les buissons épineux ;
Sur ses membres gonflés la corde se replie,
Et comme un long serpent resserre et multiplie
Sa morsure et ses nœuds.

Le cheval, qui ne sent ni le mors ni la selle,
Toujours fuit, et toujours son sang coule et ruisselle,
Sa chair tombe en lambeaux ;
Hélas ! voici déjà qu'aux cavales ardentes
Qui le suivaient, dressant leurs crinières pendantes,
Succèdent les corbeaux !

Les corbeaux, le grand-duc à l'oeil rond, qui s'effraie,
L'aigle effaré des champs de bataille, et l'orfraie,
Monstre au jour inconnu,
Les obliques hiboux, et le grand vautour fauve
Qui fouille au flanc des morts où son col rouge et chauve
Plonge comme un bras nu !

Tous viennent élargir la funèbre volée ;
Tous quittent pour le suivre et l'yeuse isolée,
Et les nids du manoir.
Lui, sanglant, éperdu, sourd à leurs cris de joie,
Demande en les voyant qui donc là-haut déploie
Ce grand éventail noir.

La nuit descend lugubre, et sans robe étoilée.
L'essaim s'acharne, et suit, tel qu'une meute ailée,
Le voyageur fumant.
Entre le ciel et lui, comme un tourbillon sombre
Il les voit, puis les perd, et les entend dans l'ombre
Voler confusément.

Enfin, après trois jours d'une course insensée,
Après avoir franchi fleuves à l'eau glacée,
Steppes, forêts, déserts,
Le cheval tombe aux cris de mille oiseaux de proie,
Et son ongle de fer sur la pierre qu'il broie
Éteint ses quatre éclairs.

Voilà l'infortuné, gisant, nu, misérable,
Tout tacheté de sang, plus rouge que l'érable
Dans la saison des fleurs.
Le nuage d'oiseaux sur lui tourne et s'arrête ;
Maint bec ardent aspire à ronger dans sa tête
Ses yeux brûlés de pleurs.

Eh bien ! ce condamné qui hurle et qui se traîne,
Ce cadavre vivant, les tribus de l'Ukraine
Le feront prince un jour.
Un jour, semant les champs de morts sans sépultures,
Il dédommagera par de larges pâtures
L'orfraie et le vautour.

Sa sauvage grandeur naîtra de son supplice.
Un jour, des vieux hetmans il ceindra la pelisse,
Grand à l'oeil ébloui ;
Et quand il passera, ces peuples de la tente,
Prosternés, enverront la fanfare éclatante
Bondir autour de lui !

II.

Ainsi, lorsqu'un mortel, sur qui son dieu s'étale,
S'est vu lier vivant sur ta croupe fatale,
Génie, ardent coursier,
En vain il lutte, hélas ! tu bondis, tu l'emportes
Hors du monde réel dont tu brises les portes
Avec tes pieds d'acier !

Tu franchis avec lui déserts, cimes chenues
Des vieux monts, et les mers, et, par delà les nues,
De sombres régions ;
Et mille impurs esprits que ta course réveille
Autour du voyageur, insolente merveille,
Pressent leurs légions !

Il traverse d'un vol, sur tes ailes de flamme,
Tous les champs du possible, et les mondes de l'âme ;
Boit au fleuve éternel ;
Dans la nuit orageuse ou la nuit étoilée,
Sa chevelure, aux crins des comètes mêlée,
Flamboie au front du ciel.

Les six lunes d'Herschel, l'anneau du vieux Saturne,
Le pôle, arrondissant une aurore nocturne
Sur son front boréal,
Il voit tout ; et pour lui ton vol, que rien ne lasse,
De ce monde sans borne à chaque instant déplace
L'horizon idéal.

Qui peut savoir, hormis les démons et les anges,
Ce qu'il souffre à te suivre, et quels éclairs étranges
À ses yeux reluiront,
Comme il sera brûlé d'ardentes étincelles,
Hélas ! et dans la nuit combien de froides ailes
Viendront battre son front ?

Il crie épouvanté, tu poursuis implacable.
Pâle, épuisé, béant, sous ton vol qui l'accable
Il ploie avec effroi ;
Chaque pas que tu fais semble creuser sa tombe.
Enfin le terme arrive... il court, il vole, il tombe,
Et se relève roi !

Mai 1828.

Earth tumbles sideways, and
I lay in heavy snow.
I swallow deep breaths of cold night air.
It is painful to breathe as
I face blue-black sky.
Stars, brightest before dawn,
cluster above me, and
dance like a whirligig.
I wheeze.
I think I am breathing deeply.
I am not.
My ribs feel to bend and crack
and I clutch at my chest, move my arms.
The small exertion does not lift me up,
it does not ease the pain.
Oh, ****.
I understand, and I try to call out.
I can make no words,
only a puff of vapor that
dissipates into exposed brick.
What time is it?
I cannot make much sound,
and it is difficult to move.
I wonder when someone will see me.
The arc of the streetlight,
blocked by the maple tree.
I should have cut it down last fall.
Lost to a shade tree?
Marguerite will not wake for an hour.
She will be alright, so will the kids,
families of their own now.
What was that poem?
Third grade, no fourth.
I read it in class.
Billy Herschel hit me with an eraser
when I finished.
The wet snow was too heavy.
I see the plastic shovel
upright in the drift.
Uncle Nick went like this.
Dumb *******, I knew better.
I hear car tires rolling noisily down the street.
I lift a black glove and move my hand.
My ribs stab at me. It is too dark.
I cannot see her. She cannot see me.
I let my hand fall deeply into the snow.
The crystals make their way under my collar.
It is cold, very cold, and it feels good,
keeps me awake, as I feel very tired,
pushed mightily, deeper into the earth.
My watch. I am not wearing a watch.
I will not know what time I will die.
I think to blow puffs of air into the sky,
and I hope that someone
will see the tiny smoke signals.
I smile at the thought.
I hate to dance.
Embarrassed to dance,
embarrassed all my years,
and there is now little time.
I hope there is time.
I am sleepy.
I think of my dog, gone some twenty years.
I see his paws, his gray muzzle, and
his last three breaths.
A single sparrow finds the telephone wire.
It is dawn,
my eyes are closing,
and the dark is warm.

Unlike most tales of nostalgia,
the recollection of sentimentality
relating to my first coup de foudre,
was to that of a Baker.

When I first saw her, she was all
in white, too young I was then to
know, or even care about virgins.

I was overwhelmed, she epitomised
everything there was about purity.

That was last century, now it is 2019
and I am also in love with a baker.

Sheila is the impossible conquest of
the 21st century.

Carroll of 20th Century Fox in The
Carpetbaggers was just as elusive.

But, as George Bernard Shaw once
said;

"An Irishman, is nothing but his
  imagination ".

           <>

Carroll Baker
Born May 28, 1931 (age 88)
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality American
Occupation
Actresswriter
Years active 1952–2003
Notable work
Baby Doll (1956)
Giant (1956)
Something Wild (1961)
How the West Was Won (1962)
The Carpetbaggers (1964)
Harlow (1965)
Native Son (1986)
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)[1]
Spouse(s)
Louie Ritter
(m. 1953; ***. 1953)
Jack Garfein
(m. 1955; ***. 1969)
Donald Burton
(m. 1978; died 2007)
Children
Blanche Baker
Herschel Garfein