To the Stars

By Ryland Li | He/Him/His | Arlington, Virginia

Night
on the Galactic Railroad
through the Webb Telescope

On my last night in Ocean City, I drive down to Assateague Beach. With my trusty GPS, I pass the bright campsites and miles of moonless marsh, until I arrive at a deserted lot of stars and cicadas. There I slowly make my way to the boardwalk.

wild dark
one small step
for a man

The landscape spreads forth in shades of grey, as though I had been spirited away to the moon like Princess Kaguya. I approach the beach, on edge for some large, yellow-eyed beast to leap out from the starcast shadows.

in the beginning
the susurrus of God
over the deep

Looking up, I don’t see Orion tonight. But of course, it’s summer. Star chart in hand, I crane my neck up and down. And I remember how the ancients wondered and told stories about these bright beings, now invisible to me except on this rare night.

long-exposure
the million stars
still shine