ELIZABETH J. COLEMAN

On Seeing the Pictures from Deep Space for the First Time

Just as dew comes in the morning after a hot day
and we train our eyes on its pearliness,
as if we could collect it and put it in a jar,

back then, there were limits to the number
and types of treatments a father
could receive for his lymphosarcoma.

Just as a dad might be an amateur watchmaker
and migrating geese are having a hard time now,
so too wisteria has the scent of home.

Just as there’ll be no transit of Venus in our lifetime,
or in that of our children or even theirs,
the Milky Way guides indigo buntings flying at night

and leads harbor seals swimming on open sea.
And just as there’s no word for home in French,
this morning you remarked,

               In our new apartment, we can hear the birds.