This Portion of Sky

I remember myself
And I see beyond —
Beyond this place
Of sand pulverized
Into starlight
By salt waters
Folded into
itinerant waves
And all the lakes
To the north
And the cavernous
Worlds below —
Beyond sprinting
Rivers that ebb
When the snows
Do not fall
As in other years.
And I look above —
Above to the skies
Cloaked in night,
And the vanished stars
Lost in the restless pride
Of bright city skylines
And I think beyond —
Beyond to all of the
Celestial bodies that glow
Without knowledge
Of this portion of sky
That covers the dunes
In shadows of tarnished silver
Blue like memory
And I know that I will not
Be remembered
But by a few generations
Of those who have loved me
Or at least
In vague recollection
Find me memorable.
And in that wisdom
I, realized in the
Unremarkable medium
Of dust,
Begin to fade
Into this infinite place.

J. C. Pucci