Regaining the Stars

the old man in the fog
suffered hearing loss
from the weight of the air

his eyesight turned poor
from the slimy pressure
and his hedgehog left him

staring out from the window
he'd imagine the stars
entwined in love-making rituals

each pulsating pulsar
ignited another nebulae
dazzling the stars to expand

the autumn wind tattered
his window with broken leaves
peppering his life with imagination

archangels were dancing
and their deft movements
cast off a brilliant meteor storm

the leaves were meteor twirls
alighting the thick night
into a celestial dervish

to which he was the patron
rocking back and forth
to the hypnotic beats

after a particularly stormy night
he worked up to a fever
aligning his body to the planets

he slept with heavy breaths
burning the misty air
that suppressed his senses

awakening with a start
he felt his senses tingling
with a rejuvenated spirit

he set out to the mountain
with his walking stick
and an insatiable desire to ascend

by nightfall the peak was his
and his neglected body ached
as he collapsed on a bed of moss

below him lay a new field of fog
and above the clearest sky
he'd ever seen in his life

the dance had become him
and he was the pirouette
at which the Universe orbited