Constellations .14

I lay as a boy on a clifftop
on a curved rock
that hugged my back
The cold chasm
drew me down
or was it gravity,
at midnight, who can tell?

A regal blanket of stars
above, I reached for
Blotting one, then another
with my finger, after
one hundred, I thought
I could leave some out

The momentousness of
the occasion was not lost
I felt all my life drained
or was it just the cold stone
at midnight, who can tell?

I knew I would look up
at the stars, as a man
once all the boyhood
inconveniences were endured
I imagined I'd be happy 
job, my dear wife, that family