Stars

Four buzzes 

Wake me up, 

Loud in the quiet 

Dark. 

A seconds-long debate 

In my head 

Before I jump from my bunk bed 

Because who needs a ladder 

And why act thirteen 

When you could act seven? 

I crouch in front of the window 

Watching 

The 3 a.m. sky.

I can never remember

How pretty the stars are,

Even though

I look at them

So often.

The sky isn’t black.

It’s dark blue,

I think,

But maybe if there was no

Light

From humans

It would be black.

Stars are different sizes

But to us

Some are only brighter

Because they are closer.

I love to feel

Alone,

Small

Like this,

Not because someone wants me to

But because I am

A fleck

On a speck

In the endlessness of space.

Then a meteor

A shooting star

A streak of magic

Whatever you want to call it –

Why I am awake.

I am so lucky

To watch

The universe

Be itself,

It’s like hearing your friend’s secrets.

I wait

Minutes

For another streak

This one smaller

Before my heavy eyelids

Win

And I crawl back into bed.

The universe

Is beautiful.

This is a poem specifically about the meteor showers that happened recently, but I think it could be applied to any night.