Lay
for the Day
27th
March
Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the earth, died in a plane crash
on this day in 1968.
The
fast fixed star’s a star;
the fast star passing
and the faster ones, red and green,
are a plane, and a closer plane.
The further star’s so
far
and fast away
I’m amazed you can see it
although it’s vast.
Where are you? Where are you?
We swim through the night
and find no rest
because you are not here.
Swim through the night, signalling,
keeping our distance.
I’m here, I’m here,
bravely swimming in this tiny
thin air.
John Gibbens
from Simples
The
Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar