IF ASTRONOMY…
(ASTRO-PARAPHRASING KIPLING
ON THE OCCASION OF GLOBAL ASTRONOMY MONTH 2026
and an older picture with the president of SARM, Valentin Grigore,
along with a disciple)
Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
.
If you can love the Sun,
with spots and prominences,
in the heat of summer
and in the cold of winter...
If the clouds can seem to you
characters from stories...
If you can remark easily
parhelia, halos and sun pillars...
If storms don't scare you,
but they amaze you with their lightning...
If eclipses and occultations
don't darken you,
but enlighten you...
If after every rain
you hope for a rainbow...
If oppositions and conjunctions
can seem to you
laughter of light...
If you debate with your friends
not only earthly problems,
but also astronomical theories...
If you can enjoy the stars
in areas with clean atmosphere,
as well as in polluted cities...
If long comets can seem to you
benevolent deities who leave us
swift meteors as memories...
If the surface features of the Moon
can seem to you
examples of an original art..
If our little planets and tiny asteroids,
on the one hand,
and nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies,
on the other hand,
seem equally important to you...
If you can consider the camera
as your adoptive brother...
If the telescope for you
is not just a tool,
but the third eye...
If your code of honor involves
helping, as much as possible,
all those who aspire to become
citizens of the Cosmos,
without expecting any reward...
If astronomy is your best friend
and you celebrate it every day
with at least a gesture of appreciation...
If you can see in
the forms of heavenly light
letters of a higher alphabet...
Then you really are
a Free or Amateur Astronomer,
Dear Fleeting Man!
.
#poetry