Poetry: I knew a woman once who loved the stars

(Remembering the Countess Zoe Wassilko-Serecki, 1897-1978*)

I knew a woman once who loved the stars,
the planets, all the signs of sky,
but not because they twinkled in the dark
They spoke to her and told her what had been
and what would be.

We thought her odd, of course,
and laughed behind her back,
but when we looked at sky charts
she had drawn, we were half awed.
What if it all was real, was true,
was more than we could know
or could believe?
Yet we dismissed the nights
we watched her spend
with her long lens and
heard her sighs, oh,
foolish woman.
Silly one.

But now when I see Jupiter, or Saturn's rings,
or lovely Venus glowing in the dawn,
I cannot help but hope she's lying with them
somewhere in the dark, cradled in their sparks
and warm.

(* Wassilko-Serecki was grand president of the Austrian Astrological Society for more than 30 years. )

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Grayce Scholt is a retired English professor from Mott College who wrote art reviews for the Flint Journal. Her book of poetry, Bang! Go All the Porch Swings is available online from Amazon and from Pages Bookstore in downtown Flint. A personal narrative of the poet's life in Europe in the early 1950's, Vienna, Only You, is available from the author at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .