Looking Up
I see the motions of many astonishing minds
The markings of women astronomers
Shaping the cosmos
Exploring nebulae, comets and the movement
Of time and space.
Holding hands in a circle of light
The magic of science and
The constant measure of the universe
Being told in a kaleidoscope of ideas.
What stars are made of, black holes and exoplanets
New tools of thought
Binding them fast like a string of pearls.
Long ago, Hypatia, a mathematician,
Astronomer and philosopher was there.
And way forward in time gave Caroline Herschel
A telescope.
Sweeping for comets made her name,
Reaching up with starlit fingers.
Henrietta Leavitt altered our view
Of vast distances and brightness of stars,
And Sara Seager sought exoplanets
As Andrea Ghez searched our own galaxy’s center.
And in our time an artist‘s name
Highlights a crater on Mercury.
Brilliance abounds as women
Tell their stories in dazzling languages
As we all look up.
The poem is titled “Looking Up” and the artwork “Gravitational Waltz” by Marsha Solomon
