If You Reach

By James Dillet Freeman


The stars crowd close around me when I walk

at night sometimes. Like swarms of summer flies

circling my head, they dance before my eyes—

would dart into my mouth if I dared talk.

To keep the stars from catching in my hair,

I try to brush them from me, but my hands

get tangled with the light as in the strands

the little spiders spin upon the air.

Some learned people think that stars are far

Away, but they seem close to me as sight—

Friendly and warm and near as candlelight;

I feel a kindly kinship with a star.

Light-years are for astronomers; I teach

That you can touch the heavens if you reach.