A series of loose Petrarchan sonnets meditating on the Hudson River School. These were featured as part of “Falling for Pawling,” a musical production based on student works performed by the Sherman Chamber Ensemble. This is the second poem in the series.
One day you’ll learn the sky is not tinged blue
From the color of the Aegean Sea (1), and you will learn
That the lights of the Aurora Borealis (2) dance and burn
From magnetic fields, and everything you thought you knew
Is a lie, like seeing the Great Wall from the moon
Or wishing on shooting stars (3), hands clasped in taciturn
Prayer, or thinking that Earth revolves and turns
Around the Sun; but the Barycenter (4) is the true
Center of our universe. But even though you were wrong,
You will know of electromagnetic spectrums and such bores,
And you will know the true Barycenter of our universe belongs
In the warmth and gravity of a child’s hand in yours.
One day you will learn you were wrong all along,
But it will no longer matter, for you will have opened new doors.
- Aegean Sea by Frederic Church.
- Aurora Borealis by Frederic Church.
- The Star in the East by Frederic Church.
- “One way to find a planet” from NASA.
