Star Walk

Push the button. 

Swipe the screen.

Tap your code.

Tap the app, and

Sky Walk opens.

If you hold the device up to the horizon,

You will see an image of the sky.

Not just any image of the sky,

But the image that the eye sees

When the eye sees a map.

Star Walk is a map of the sky, and

More than a map.

It is a gifted teacher,

Teaching you your place in the crowded cosmos.

Tap an object, say, a planet, and

Star Walk will instruct you,

Giving the planet’s size, distance, history.

Tap on a star, say, Rigel, and

Star Walk will remind you

That Rigel’s light which has fired your brain’s neurons

Left Rigel—yes, it did—light years ago.

There are galaxies out there.

Space, vastness, nebulae, the speed of light—

Star Walk will incite you to focus

Yes—focus—on your place in the crowded cosmos.

--October 8, 2013