The Great Conjunction

 

I’ve written a series of poems lately which refer to ‘The Guest House’ a poem by Jalaluddin Rumi where he uses the image as a metaphor for our psyche. I like to play with the image, sometimes literal, sometimes metaphorical, maybe both.

This is the last one, I think, but I want to post it now, as it’s topical. The conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which takes place every 20 years, occurs this year, 2020, on the winter solstice December twenty-first.

Guest House and Sky

Lines of cloud in the north west.
So straight, the Cloud Maker must have used a ruler
laid across the sky.
Some are pink & others, deep blue-grey.
Lines you could write a script on.
As if the sky becomes the Word
or the deep breath taken
before the Word appears.

Other lines are short and razor sharp,
steps going up, or rungs
in some celestial ladder.

In the near dark – near-black lines
against the greenish backlit blue
of the horizon sky.

The first star dangles from a straight black line –
it must be Jupiter – light at the end
of the cloud path?

The horizontal cloud lines are crossed
by vertical black silhouettes of trees.

The one bright star might be joined by others
to form a row of noughts (or crosses).
Jupiter will sail past the old king (Saturn)
as he always does, each 20 years,
he always wins the game.
For his eye is on the future,
and what lies outside the frame.

Never has the future felt so present
as we approach the meeting-point
of old and new.
This year’s been marked by illness, limitations
separations and disquiet.
Now that time is slowing down
we look back on those unforeseen arrivals,
dressed as the Grim Reaper,
and assorted Judges, Emperors or Clowns.

The Guest House has a bunch of roses
on the table.
And Jupiter’s already breezed in –
warms his feet before the fire.
I believe his confidence, anticipate
his travel invitation.
I dust off my passport and my travel bags,
hitch my hopes to his polished chariot,
drawn by midnight horses, stabled just outside.

The clouds have disappeared into
the dark of night –
all you can see now is this
shining star.

Image credit: M McBroom (taken some time ago, our very own star)