Hot Tub Astronomy: A Fire On The Moon

Posted on Jan 1, 1990 in Astronomy, Poetry | 0 comments

Watching the sky from the hot tub is an educational and relaxing game.

Just remember that what you see and reality, may not be the same.

It was a dark and stormy night, as this tale begins. Well, thats nearly true.

Anyway, dark and cold, but with the heat of the Jacuzzi, we enjoyed the cold breeze, too.

When suddenly in a clearing, out over the sea, a crescent moon came into view.

“Look at that moon!” my spouse said to me.”I see a fire! Do you?”

A fire on the MOON? We know that can’t be. We didn’t believe i t. Would you?

The top most point of the crescent moon had the tiniest little flame.

We stared at that fire in total awe. Wondering what to blame?

A fire on the moon never has been and seeing is NOT believing.

Go get the binoculars? No! No! Its Impossible to think of leaving.

The flame dropped from the moon, just a little below, not too far away.

There it stayed bright and white, like the planet venus on an impromptu stay.

Time stood still. But the seconds ticked on,

as the flame glowed yellow and the moon was gone.

It wasn’t the moon! Couldn’t have been the moon! The moon had been up in the day.

White to yellow it changed. Yellow to orange, brighter or closer, we couldn’t say.

If it’s coming closer, perhaps, we should go! Shouldn’t we get out of the way?

Move from this spot? No! Not I! I’ll watch it now, come what may.

For thirty long seconds, in very slow motion,

we watched it fall quietly toward the black ocean.

Then it was gone! How quiet and dark!The silence was extreme!

No one spoke. We stared at the sky. Maybe it was all a dream.

It was gone but five seconds, when it came ON again, still high above the sea.

It lit up the water. And grew even hotter! At least it seemed so, to me.

Now, what can I say. It just went away. Went out, just as quietly as before.

We watched and we wondered, wondered and watched. Sorry to see it no more.

What was that light? That bright, quiet, light that came and Just went away?

Perception is strange, when you look at the sky. What’s far? You really can’t say.

How far is far? How near is near? It depends on why you ask .

To sort it out and explain to another, is really quite a task .

The morning paper told us, that what we saw was too far away to hear.

It was far out over the ocean, they said. But, two hundred miles is NEAR.

A missile mis-fired and was destroyed. The Air Force admitted last night.

Many reported the moon shaped tail and the mysterious ball of light.

Happy to have the answer, to the Fire on the Moon. I think, it very comical.

How far close is, and how close far is, when you’re thinking astronomical .