I Tried To Look At The Sky Tonight Poem by Shalom Freedman

I TRIED TO LOOK AT THE SKY TONIGHT


I tried to look at the sky tonight
As if the stars were lights of other bright worlds
Magical in their beauty
Human in their hope of habitation-

I tried to look at the sky tonight
As if I did not know of
Dark matter and dark energy
Vast galaxies and extreme temperatures
Distances beyond imagining –

I tried to look at the sky tonight
As if I were innocent of all scientific understanding
And could not –

We will never be innocent again
And our longing in looking at the sky
Never be what it once was-

The stars are not the stars anymore
And the heavens not the heavens – either.