Dots in the dark

We don't have many good constellations here in the north hemisphere. Orion's our best, of course, but there's so much light pollution about you'd be hard pressed to see him even on a clear night.

Last Tuesday, it was a very clear night. I was still awake at about one AM, and by chance happened to look at the sky. Orion and his friends, tiny, brilliant pin-pricks of light against the dark veil of night. I don't know why the stars affect me this deeply, but they do, and I'm glad for it.

Each of those sparkling dots is a mighty ball of searing thermonuclear plasma, as big as, or bigger than, our own sun, perhaps shepherded by smaller spheres, like our tiny world orbits our sun.

I stared up at the stars, dumbstruck, neck craned. I want so much to sail among them.

The sky makes some people convinced of their religion. It makes me convinced of the opposite. I imagine a civilisation riding around one of those distant shimmering orbs, proudly proclaiming 'We're at the centre. Everything was made for us," and I consider how seriously I would take their claim.