The Astronomer's Prayer
When I die, release my ashes among the stars.
Unlike me they shall perhaps reach heaven.
Life dealt me too many bruises, too many scars
And my heart from sin is much too broken.
Yet I crave not that Beaulah land of gold.
It is for the eternity of space that i long
Where stars plentiful as the sand unfold
Waltzing forever to their silent song.
Why do we strive for a life after death;
For a salvation from this present hell;
When all along, Heaven's lavish hearth
Hangs not from where the angels fell
But up where the sages of old did stare
And where I humbly lift up this prayer.