Peripheral

I wish I didn’t know

how far it is

to the nearest star,

or that it would take

our fastest craft 50,000 years

to get there.

I wish I hadn’t learnt

that there are 400 billion

stars in our galaxy

and 500 billion

galaxies to date

that we can estimate.

I wish my horizon

was where the land stops

and the sky starts,

for then I might understand

why everything seems

so important -

the way that animals do;

whose only world

is that within their view.

How I wish I didn’t know

how far it is

to the nearest star.

John H Davies

15th March 2011