Signs in the sky

Was it a long day, or a long night?

For our tutor, Saturday is a long working day.  Since of course students aren’t available during school hours, he has to work evenings and weekends.  Saturday he normally has a full schedule.  This time of year, it means heading out to the bus stop before dawn and arriving home after sunset.

This past week he made his morning trek facing the setting Moon, with Jupiter higher in the sky in front, and Venus shining on his back.  There were a few of the familiar winter stars off to the left, but not many; even in the wee hours, Alexandria is brightly lit.  Still, there was a feeling of connection, of knowing his place in the universe by these signposts.

Coming home, he noticed a bright yellow light among the buildings of downtown: the rising Moon.  To the feeling of connection with the sky he added a sense of completion, of a cycle closed.  Now, the movements of the Moon and planets are well known, and he could have predicted exactly what he’d see well in advance (weather permitting); so none of this was a surprise.  And the full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise by definition (with some complications that our astronomer will be happy to tell you about, if you ask).  Whatever meaning one ascribes to the signs in the sky is one’s own.  In this case, the sense of completion was no doubt prompted by the news he’d received during the day of the death of an old friend from High School.

And he reflected on time, on long duration.  The Moon and planets will still be doing their formal dance not only after any particular person is gone, but when the nearby Potomac River itself has changed course or vanished.

All of this might lead one into philosophy.  Our tutor has spent some of his commute perusing famous works in that field, and has now reached Descartes.  But he has not been inspired to contribute any thoughts of his own, at least not yet.

Or, perhaps, it might lead into works of fiction.  He has recently finished, as bus reading, a collection of short stories by an esteemed author.  He’s convinced, however, that he missed much of their meaning, and would have to reread and study them one by one to get their true import.  As to writing his own, he claims no skill.  But certainly a good author could make excellent use of Moonrise, Moonset and the signs in the sky to set off the action of a story.

What does the sky mean to you?