illustration by Robin Mazey
There once was a family of folks
with three little girls and three long-haired blokes.
Some said they were mad, for the fun they would have
but the love, all the love was no hoax!
What?! We asked with sleep in our eyes,
Why are the lights so bright,
What’s happening, you guys??
It was 2 in the morning when we
heard “rise and shine”,
We slowly remembered
The plan we’d defined.
With wild excitement,
The guys rushed us out…
into the dark,
and running about.
We stopped at the store
Of the man down the road
To buy a pop with our change,
So excited we’d explode.
We’d all planned this outing
with the almanac, you know,
Awaiting for months,
this unearthly show.
The Aurora Borealis
Was passing through town
And we weren’t going to miss it,
though… no one else was around.
At first we sat down
awaitingly on the steps
Of the American hotel,
abandoned, like the rest.
When our Baba looked up
With a twinkle in his eye
and said “I know a better spot!”
And off we’d all fly!
With sodas in hand
we headed for the hill,
The highest one within walking
Would totally fit the bill.
It was a golf course by day,
But by night it came alive,
At least on this night,
as the planets would align.
There was room to play freely,
on this mountaintop.
We played Northern Lights whip,
with occasional belly flops.
We tripped as we ran,
We howled as we laughed,
We felt joy like no other,
And flew like aircraft!
The night sky no longer
gave way to the dark,
As it rainbow’d and glittered
and spread out its arc.
It felt as though
Theatre of the Gods had begun,
And we jumped and we ran
as we spun just for fun.
The dancers of color
seemed to jump east to west
The soldiers of spotlights seemed
to shine their brightest.
The azure green curtain,
it opened and closed
as the audience of lights
looks like it explodes!
The light show continued
and so did our play,
we laughed and carried on
right ‘til the next day.
As morning she broke,
She found us all around
on the green of the course,
But sitting on the ground.
We sat there in peace,
Meditation and prayer.
We sat there in silence
And deep, long lost stares.
We knew it was fading
and time to go Home
To dream of the future
aurora borealis shows.
We quietly walked
through the town to go home
before the shops opened,
but not feeling alone.
We knew we had shared in
the magic of the night,
the presence of the light,
and we felt it our right
to have been part of what’s bigger,
by being part of that night, together.
It was but a few hours
out of our lives
As we processed our experience
and returned to our hives.
We weren’t the same people we
were when we woke
we learned from this freedom
And all it invoked.
We’d been so excited
for our plan to awake
in the middle of the night
and we said we would make
A run for the hill
and play out our games,
We set out our plans
and we’d laid out our claims.
Reality was we would do all that,
we’d feel the great joy
of falling down flat.
But much more is remembered
from that night of fun
how we felt like one person
and part of the sun.
We crawled back in bed at the dawn
of the day,
With visions of Gods
and the things they might say.
But before we shut eyes, and
somewhere near sleep
The connection was strong
As to who we would be.
Inspired by our
aurora borealis night,
Sharon Springs, NY
summer 1973