Constellations by Nicole Borg

Welcome to Sunday Morning Lyricality, featuring a weekly song or poem by a Minnesota writer.

Have you ever wondered what your place in the universe is, or means? This poem gazes at the universe from the human perspective of love, connecting them in the concept of “vastness.” Where others might see only chaotic complexity, the poet sees patterns. And yet, in humility, with a sense of reverent awe, she does not claim to be able to explain love or the universe. This open-ended “amazement” allows me to share her sense of wonder.

–Tracy Rittmueller

Constellations
Nicole Borg

You have explored
the patterns of my stars, 
charted the darkness. 
Astronomer turned astronaut, 
meticulously mapping
a place for yourself. 

You were patient.
You were kind.
Let us lay together in this bed of light. 
Time elapses
at incalculable rates.
Algorithms fail.
It’s hard to envision
one future
in this vastness. 

To sustain life, our
newly-minted planet
must have water.
We are water.
We are flowing
from the source.
We are the source.

Overhead, oceans of stars,
we clasp hands, silent
in our amazement, tracing
shapes with outstretched 
fingers, shapes almost
recognizable,
almost something
we could name.

Nicole Borg is an English teacher and poet. All Roads Lead Home, Nicole’s first collection of poetry, was published in 2018 by Up on Big Rock Poetry Series, an imprint of Shipwreckt Books. For five years, she was editor of Green Blade, Magazine of the Rural America Writers’ Center. She lives in Sartell along the lovely Mississippi River with her husband and sons, Lyzander and Lynx.

"Constellations" first appeared in 
Talking Stick Volume 28. Appears here 
with the permission of the author.
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