From Stardust to Stardust
An economy of farms and wineries.
Quiet neighbors on either side.
My husband would pull out the telescope, where we’d find different planets and stars in the solar system.
At night, we were lucky.
But time requires change:
where we are now, the stars are a little harder to find.
Someday I hope we return,
where our backyard is once again an astronomer’s playground,
free from the light pollution a bigger city brings.
Perhaps I have stumbled on some astronomical truths,
and the ashes on our forehead from the parish priest,
“Ashes to ashes”
“Dust to dust”
remind us one day we’ll return
to where we came, though the details are fuzzy.
“Stardust to stardust”
“Star to star”
like an unfocused lens, searching for Jupiter.
Bethany Riddle is a writer and educator living in Washington State where the Evergreens are hard to find, but the wineries are plenty. She lives with her husband, two kids, and two dogs. You can find her on Instagram @bethanyjriddle.
Amethyst Review 