To the Astrologer

Plot every planetary habitat,

            number and know the course of fire

                        extinguished by the minute;

            kindled again, it will inspire

the tail of a returning comet that

                        portends no life within it.

The sun is rising all the time to cross

            Saturn’s descent, the moon eclipsed

                        to hide the thief escaping.

            Nothing is strange about these tips,

these meanings in the motion, wealth and loss,

                        a point that life is shaping.

But when you’ve charted all the planets right,

            clearly foretelling wealth, success,

                        a life so satisfying,

            no one will wonder how to bless,

or love both well and wisely by a light

                        that constantly is dying.

Michael T. Young

From Transcriptions of Daylight, Rattapallax Press,
© 2000; originally printed in Pivot.  Reprinted by
permission of the author.