“Trailblazer”
The stardust shimmers
As a comet passes over.
Plowing through space for all of eternity,
Its magnificent tail glimmers
With hope and luminosity.
As it orbits the setting sun,
The comet carves its wake,
Ripples of the Creator
Who created all that ever was
And has yet to come.
It follows only itself,
Aided by the stars’ help
From one loop to the next.
How the average man on Earth
Looks so perplexed.
“A shooting star arrives,
Awaiting no man, friend or foe,”
My father said long ago.
“Be your own man.”
He rested on my shoulder his hand.
“Be like the comet, a trailblazer.
Don’t let wonders slip away.
That’s the fate of the stargazer.”
Eighty-six years have passed
Since the last sighting.
The sky was pitch-black,
Save the occasional flash of lightning.
Haley will return,
Her influence engraved
On the Hero’s Urn.
Scripture and space are linked,
The faces of the universe
Ingrained in man’s memory
Like the mark of permanent ink.
“Those who see her entity
Cannot escape the legends
That await their destiny.”
Such is the fate, in the end,
Of those graced by her sanctity.
History has shown this to be true
With many great heroes,
All were born under the light
Of Halley’s transient flight.
I was a stargazer.
I saw numerous nimble-novas burn up
As their embers etched in my mind
The evidence for a higher power
That kept the heavens aligned.
My father never felt that way
When he saw the stars suspended in space.
They stirred something strong within him,
Brought him to a higher place.
He was a trailblazer,
An innovator, and to many a lifesaver.
He always kept a compass and a clock.
When my father went out to sea,
He needed a reliable way to navigate from the dock.
“The stars will always guide me”,
I can hear him proclaim to the crew
As if today were yesterday,
His charisma still fresh and new.
“Stop living in the past,”
I hear my wife yell inside my head
The more I recount these stories
Of my father when I was just a lad.
Henry the Navigator was his name,
Or at least that’s what he was called.
My mind always comes back to him,
His inspiration the savior to us all.
A master of navigation,
He knew no reservations
As he sailed into uncharted waters.
I didn’t see him very much,
But to every sailor he was a father.
Born under the light of a shooting star,
Everyone knows the trailblazer you are.
How I wish I lived up to your expectations,
The foresight behind the compass
That gave you your astronomic revelations.
I am glad I finally follow you after years of being so distant.
Your leadership has made us stronger,
Built me into the man that you are.
Perhaps that is what awaits us stargazers,
Who become trailblazers when we reach for the stars.
Andrew Blitman -- Author & Artist 
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