A Million-Mile Tail

This is a poem I wrote about the comet Neowise. I remember driving out to dark place with a wide view of the night sky to experience something that would not be seen from earth again for six thousand years. The poem was written in July of 2020, when the deadly Covid-19 virus had become a global pandemic. While viewing the comet I found myself at the same time overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and gratitude. We were weary of isolation, watching movies with people gathering in theaters, public places and restaurants so casually it made us ache with a powerful longing—wondering if that kind of relaxed community would ever be possible again.

I remember scanning the sky, thinking of the cloud of ancestors, thinking of things lost and found, filled with immense gratitude for every shining person in my life. I remember saying a prayer for all those on the front lines—the doctors, nurses and essential workers. I remember feeling a cloud of ancestors, like a glittering presence, shimmering like the diamond dust in the comet’s wake.

A Million-Mile Tail
(For the Comet Neowise - discovered on March 27, 2020 - and for all the shining
comets as they sail out of view.)

There is a comet that passes this way
Every six thousand years or so,
For the briefest
Handful of days.
This week that comet returned,
Coming into view
After ages of absence.
The comet is actually quite small.
A mere acre or two of ice and rock
And yet blooming behind it
Is a million-mile tail.
A smear of diamonds and dust
Curling in its wake.
Some people are like that,
Passing briefly into our orbit
Having no idea of the wide wash of color,
The glittering ash,
They've left expanding behind them.
Tossed like roses
Or kisses into the wind.
And so tonight,
I lift up on my toes
To catch the last glimpse
Of something real,
But rare,
As it slips beyond the horizon,
Heading back home
To the place it began.
The night sparkling with stars
As it swings out of view.