time keeps painting lazy eights
up and down the sky
I never know the azimuth
but somehow I get by
if I could only have a map
or better yet a globe
then I would know the way to go
without a cosmic probe
a shadow moves upon the dial
as time begins to fade
I answer to a distant call
I have my astrolabe
I'll find my way with Ptolemy
and I will travel far
for I can see the clearest course
to reach my hidden star
A great, great great creation, dear friend./I had just finished translating ''Shield'' and I have to start by it now!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I really enjoyed this one Barry. I did not know the azimuth either (I had to look it up) . This was a treat. Again the concept of time, but this time its personified and painting lazy eights in the sky. I liked that imagery. I easily imagined puffy clouds of lazy eights being drawn quickly in a blue sky. Instead of praying to God, the speaker has invoked all methods of scientific measurement to seek the path to their hidden star. Well done.
The analemma is literally a lazy 8 traced by the sun through a year's time by recording the sun's position taken at the same hour each day. It was a navigational tool and even today is inscribed on most globes and world maps. We need all the navigational aids we can find in life both literally and metaphorically. I hope I am not being overly optimistic when I say I will find my way. It's been a rough road. LOL