Per ardua ad astra

When I was 14, stars were my thing

I could point to Orion blindfold

I dreamed I would work for NASA one day

But exams got in the way, although the dream is still there

 

Work is OK

Time goes fast most of the time, we have a laugh.

And the jobs get done.

These days they have to!

 

We’d been talking about the eclipse for quite a while.

I’d known about it for a year or more

We wondered how dark it would get.

Would the birds stop singing?

 

I wondered if we might see some stars – Venus maybe

 

On the day we all piled out to have a look

It didn’t get that dark

But it was magic

Pure magic

 

And then we heard, well, we saw

A hurriedly typed memo on the notice board

We were all to lose 15 minutes pay

 

The magic went and so did the smiles

Time went really slow in the afternoon

 

I couldn’t wait to get home.

And email NASA

‘Got any jobs... any jobs at all?’

 

Just get me out of this one!

© Jon Harvey 1999