Today, July 18, 2021, would have been John Glenn’s 100th birthday.

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Fireflies

Under a hill that appears

   as the horizon,

low to the ground at early dusk

   they appear

— a scattered flash, a beacon —

and as night deepens and draws

    them upwards, a blinking constellation

with heaven’s constellations 

    fuse into one light.

*

They say he died in 2016,

but I say John Glenn is alive

preparing for his next flight

wherever and whenever

a space mission flies.

*

     Sunrise and

there are thousands of them,

     way out, 

as far as I can see.

*******

For an excellent account of John Glenn and the early Mercury program, I recommend Mercury Rising by Jeff Shesol (Norton).