Peter Milner
Two
We set off in the rain
as the night was coming
chased around the lanes
the windscreen-wipers going . . .
we had to try to catch it now
or wait . . . such time
we didn’t have
So off we went
eyeing up the weather
the gaps in the procession –
we just needed a patch
of clear illuminated sky
low down on the horizon
south or west
we weren’t quite certain . . .
and an unimpeded view
from somewhere up high
At last, we turned onto a track
by a ploughed field
wet and black
but on a hill
and there above the furrows
‘Is that . . ? Two . . .’
Between dark clouds
a distant sight
squeezed together
two points of light
against the evening blue
Two planets
we were looking down a line,
down an alley in space/time
aligned from where we stood
on our planet
we looked . . . out there –
one sphere beyond the other
and that one
ringed, we knew
like a broad-brimmed hat
worn at
a very rakish angle
and the other, bareheaded
but it always does our hearts good
to see you bright planet – Jupiter
tonight with your more distant friend
not quite conjoined
but there . . .
We stood and pondered
leaning on the car
Saturn and Jupiter
staring, taking photographs
and looking through the lenses
of our binoculars and not saying –
‘Centuries will have to pass
for the clockwork of the universe
to tick around to this again
for future versions of ourselves
to see this modest sight above ‘em . . .’
Instead, a dog-shaped cloud
with an open mouth
drifted in from the south
not threatening
but reminding us
our dinner
was in the oven
We drove back
along the coast
the sea spread out
towards the shores of Wales
our planets hovering
we stopped once more
to gawp, to bid farewell
to know we hadn’t failed
to meet . . .
before the road
turned inland
and we went home to eat
and speak
about the night’s meanderings
Commentary
Earth, Jupiter and Saturn were going to be aligned on 21st December 2020. An event not to be repeated for centuries. Sadly the weather on our patch of Earth was rain and cloud for days. There was just one possible break, the evening before, a break in the weather, so off we went . . .’
