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This menu page updated
March 09, 2010
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Click for info on the
Palominas Group
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The above 'egroup' is an
email type bulletin-board in which only members receive email from other
members of Palominas yahoo Group. You use your existing address. I am also a
member other egroups and
this is a good way to exchange news and get
questions answered or discussed. |
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Celebrating
The Gifts Of A Starry Night
Collections
of Poems & Prose From Palominas Observatory
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'Stars' by
Sara Teasdale
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'February
Twilight'
by Sara Teasdale
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Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,
And a heaven full of stars
Over my head,
White and topaz
And misty red;
Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
That aeons
Cannot vex or tire;
Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill,
I watch them marching
Stately and still,
And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.
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I stood beside a
hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see--
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.
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| 'The New Moon'
by Sara Teasdale |
Day, you have bruised and beaten me,
As rain beats down the bright, proud sea,
Beaten my body, bruised my soul,
Left me nothing lovely or whole --
Yet I have wrested a gift from you,
Day that dies in dusky blue:
For suddenly over the factories
I saw a moon in the cloudy seas --
A wisp of beauty all alone
In a world as hard and gray as stone --
Oh who could be bitter and want to die
When a maiden moon wakes up in the sky?
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NIGHT
IS MY COMPANION
No shadows
fall where I stand,
no sounds disturb my wonderland.
The celestial dome is spinning its dance,
sweeping me up as in an avalanche.
My companion lets unfold the Universe,
the expanse of which I long to traverse.
I crest the
night not knowing a dream,
but of visions far greater supreme.
The companion and I explore the deep,
to forever treasure the mysteries it keeps.
All too soon the cosmic dance is through,
and I must wait for our next rendezvous.
Doug Snyder 11-22-98
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Bright Star!
Bright Star! would I were
steadfast as thou art-
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priest-like task
Of pure ablution round Earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors -
No - yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
Half-passionless, and so swoon on to death.
_John Keats
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Into
Unknown Seas
I cannot now stand on Titanic's bow,
to hold my love, to view together an ocean of blue.
While fate propels us into an unknown azurean sea,
who is there to watch over our journey?
I fear it is the seaman.
Nightly,
my love and I ride Earth's bow,
Standing together, a view of God's infinity ahead.
While fate propels us into an unknown cosmic sea,
who is there to watch over our journey?
I hope it is the astronomer.
doug
snyder
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I
Had No Idea....I Had No Idea
An
upwards gaze towards the darkened sky
A glimse I took of stars on high.
Where might I journey to tonight,
What fabled myth will fill my sight?
I Had No Idea....I Had No Idea
An upwards gaze towards the east,
I then beheld the rising of the beast.
The star of its heart appearing like celestial fire,
What secrets can I learn before I tire?
I Had No Idea....I Had No Idea
An upwards gaze through the glass,
And now my soul allows eternity to pass.
What lies beyond, I quietly ask, this view of majestic
grandeur?
And the Universe silently returns it answer,
You Have No Idea....You Have No Idea.
(D. S. - Inspired by
the movie "Contact") |
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Fear
Of Phobophobia
When very young I professed pantophobia.
Now drawn to the wonders of astronomy,
I no longer have to tremble with the feelings
of scotophobia or siderophobia.
Yes, I am no longer considered to be nyctophobic .
But oh, how my heart shrieks in
terror when my
nephelophobia and eosophobia rear their ugly heads.
Fortunately, the Sun will set tonight (but will it!?)
and I can once again come face-to-face with my apeirophobia,
the worst of them all.
Doug S.
9-2-98 *
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Songbird
As
my hands cradle the softly feathered songbird,
How I yearn for its melodic radiance to be heard.
The songbird of majestic plumage now ascends into the
night,
Prismatic wings glistening in pale moonlight.
The Nightingale, the Canary, the Oriole - Oh, such delight!
Do other souls see rainbows at night,
And the swirling visions of songbirds in flight? |
As
my eyes cradle the unshadowed hues of a night sky serene,
How I yearn for its silent radiance to be seen.
The songbird of majestic lore now ascends into the night,
Prismatic stars glistening in pale moonlight.
The Aquila, the Cygnus, the Tucana - Oh, such delight!
Do other souls see rainbows at night,
And the swirling visions of stars alight?
(d.s. 9/23/98) |
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When
my hour has come
let no teardrop fall
and no darkness hover
round me where I lie.
Let the vastness call
one who was its
lover..
Let me breath the sky,
and gaze unto heaven.
A.E.
Poems 1919 - Thankyou, Connie!
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Can You
Count The Stars Tonight?
My Darling Daughter, can
you count the stars tonight ?
Can you imagine a night, not so long ago, filled with starlight,
An infinity of shimmering diamonds on a meadow of
velvet?
Can you close your eyes and picture a river of a million distant
fireflies,
A cascade of sparkling heavenly beacons that
once filled our skies?
Now that those who are without wonder or awe have taken our
night,
my darling daughter, can you count the stars tonight?
Yes, Daddy. Tonight, I can see two !
(Doug Snyder - August 5, 1998) |
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The Learn'd Astronomer - Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were
ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams,
to add, divide and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer
where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became
tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out
I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night air,
and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence
at the stars.
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\\
Two Beautiful Songs By ENYA //
Paint The Sky With Stars
Suddenly
before my eyes
Hues of indigo arise
With them how my spirit sighs
Paint the sky with stars
Only night will ever know
Why the heavens never show
All the dreams there are to know
Paint the sky with stars
Who has paced the midnight sky?
So a spirit has to fly
As the heavens seem so far
Now who will paint the midnight star?
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Night has brought to those
who sleep
Only dreams they cannot keep
I have legends in the deep
Paint the sky with stars
Who has paced the midnight sky?
So a spirit has to fly
As the heavens seem so far
Now who will paint the midnight star?
Place a name upon the night
One to set your heart alight
And to make the darkness bright
Paint the sky with stars.
(ENYA) |
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Anywhere
Is
(click on title to hear the midi- does not do justice to the
original)
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I walk the maze
of moments
but everywhere I turn to
begins a new beginning
but never finds a finish
I walk to the horizon
and there I find another
it all seems so surprising
and then I find that I know.
You go there you're gone
forever
I go there I'll lose my way
if we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is
The moon upon the ocean
is swept around in motion
but without ever knowing
the reason for its flowing
in motion on the ocean
the moon still keeps on moving
the waves still keep on waving
and I still keep on going
You go there you're gone
forever
I go there I'll lose my way
if we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is
I wonder if the stars sign
the life that is to be mine
and would they let their light shine
enough for me to follow
I look up to the heavens
but night has clouded over
no spark of constellation
No Vela no Orion
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The shells upon
the warm sands
have taken from their own lands
the echo of their story
but all I hear are low sounds
as pillow words are weaving
and willow waves are leaving
but should I be believing
that I am only dreaming
You go there you're gone forever
I go there I'll lose my way
If we stay here we're not together
Anywhere is
To leave the thread of all
time
and let it make a dark line
in hopes that I can still find
the way back to the moment
I took the turn and turned to
begin a new beginning
still looking for the answer
I cannot find the finish
it's either this or that way
it's one way or the other
it should be one direction
it could be on reflection
the turn I have just taken
the turn that I was making
I might be just beginning
I might be near the end.
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Fear
Of Fear (Phobophobia)
When very young I professed 'a fear of Everything' (pantophobia).
Now drawn to the wonders of astronomy,
I no longer have to tremble with the feelings
of a 'fear of darkness' (scotophobia) or a 'fear of stars' (siderophobia).
Yes, I am no longer considered to be 'fearful of the night' (nyctophobic)
.
But oh, how my heart shrieks in
terror when my
'fear of clouds' (nephelophobia) and 'fear of dawn' (eosophobia) rear
their ugly heads.
Fortunately, the Sun will set tonight (but will it!?)
and I can once again come face-to-face with my 'fear of infinity' (apeirophobia),
the worst of them all.
Doug S.
9-2-98
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