I saw the Big Dipper for the first time

Yesterday 

Handful of stars casually strewn 

Like freckles on an inky facade 

I always found them unassuming 

Twinkling in mediocrity 

And yet for months 

I’d try in vain to connect them

And fail marvelously at this celestial version

Of a reverse Rorschach test

For months they remained what they had always been 

A smattering of unaligned cosmic secrets

That I couldn’t decipher 

But yesterday I glanced to the sky

Because what is it if not a habit 

To seek out beauty under the cover of night 

And there it was 

In all it’s anticlimactic, glorious shape 

Twinkling weakly, making sense

And I clung to it with blurry eyes 

(Maybe that’s what made all the difference) 

Because I finally connected the dots 

And because I only needed to do it once 

To recognize it every night 

And understand it for a lifetime 

No matter where I’m anchored