Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight
–Children’s Nursery Rhyme

Childish wishes are hopeful,
but we, haphazard, throw wishes
As adults, burning them out
Like sugarfloss to waft
Back to us stinking of stardust,
Scorched by wayward belief

Your words ring true, if jaded
Worn down in the winds of time
Would it be a lie to say
The Great Whatever-it-is
Rebirths the dwarf as Phoenix
The maturity of new hope?

Phoenix rises from ashes
Of childhood’s fiery wishes
Red Giant burning steady on,
A North Star to guide, formed
Of boundless aspiration
And bold imagination

It is said that heaven is
Entered only by children
And some child-like adults
Possibly we’re deceived by
Illusions of scale, that we’ve
Reversed the last and the first

If I had a beggar-wish-
horse to ride, might you mistake
Shooting stars for wishing ones?

Bigger mistake to rename
Those stars meteors, pay heed
At all to wish-horse splinters

-Duet by
Beatrice Underwood-Sweet
and
Jason Lee Miller