Perseid Shower - a Summer Memory

Some years ago, two close poet friends and I set off in the night with lawn chairs and light weight blankets (for night coolness), to find a place far enough away from the city lights that we could view the Perseid comet shower.

Dan Maguire was not only a charming man with a beautiful Irish enor voice, he was a gifted poet. Together with Tom Clapham, a brilliant librarian and poet, we were members of the Mad Poets Society in Pennsylvania. It was a lifetime thrill of mine when one of my poems was chosen in the top ten one year in their annual publication. Generally the greatest thrill for me was to be included in their publication.

Eileen D'Angelo was and is he founder and head of the Mad Poets' Society and she is also a brilliant poet and a gifted singer, songwriter and musician. We had many wonderful nights under the stars in Ridley Creek Park during the summer Mad poet camp-outs, with a bonfire, singing, and reciting.

The year that Dan, Tom and I went to the country to see the Perseid showers was a charmed and magical night. We were so happy! We parked in the back lot at the Mickleton Friends Meeting House, set up our chairs, and began to scan the black night sky. It was a great night for viewing - no clouds.

Oooohh and Aaahhhs abounded as the little fireballs shot across the sky, one after another. It was remarkable. I started counting but I got tired of counting around 100. We had no idea then, that Dan would die from an aneurism, and Tom would descend into a dungeon of silence from Dementia. We were never really together again, after that mystic night. Our friendships, and their lives went out in a blaze like the comets in the night sky.

I was fortunate enough to view Haley's comet make its slow ride acrosss the black sky of West Virginia in 1986 when my daughter was 3 years old. It was so slow, I did a color pencil drawing of it. It was huge! The Perseids had been like tiny pin points of light trailing white thread, but Haley's comet was like a lightbulb.

Gone with the comets are my friends, my parents and my youth. The comets however, will be back! Haley's will be back in 2061 long after I ahve left to join my friends and m parents in what I like to think of as the Universal Consciousness.

On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine wrightj45@yahoo.com