It’s so cold my skin hurts.  We park the car

behind a camper van and follow another group,

walking slowly so as not to trip over long grass. 

I trip anyway.  The stones are in front of us

but it’s so dark I can barely see them. 

There are other people around but the groups

don’t mix –  satellites in their own orbit.

Above us the Milky Way stretches on and on.

So many stars, it’s overwhelming for a

city girl – its vastness and my consequent

triviality – and it’s truly beautiful.  We

can’t speak.  We stand and we look at

the sky with its delicate pointillism,

other worlds, other suns, a dark forest.

Time stops. 

The aurora doesn’t appear that

night.  We don’t mind.