Halley’s Comet

What must our children think as they watch the news?  They see images of the shooting deaths of Black Americans, a  devastating pandemic, angry politicians shouting into empty auditoriums, extreme weather, over and over.  Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz lived to be 101; his poem “Halley’s Comet” was written about his experience as a 5 year old boy, thinking the world was about to end.   May we make the choices that will keep our children safe; may they live to be 101. 

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Halley's Comet

by Stanley Kunitz

Miss Murphy in first grade

wrote its name in chalk

across the board and told us

it was roaring down the storm tracks

of the Milky Way at frightful speed

and if it wandered off its course

and smashed into the earth

there'd be no school tomorrow.

A red-bearded preacher from the hills

with a wild look in his eyes

stood in the public square

at the playground's edge

proclaiming he was sent by God

to save every one of us,

even the little children.

"Repent, ye sinners!" he shouted,

waving his hand-lettered sign.

At supper I felt sad to think

that it was probably

the last meal I'd share

with my mother and my sisters;

but I felt excited, too, 

and scarcely touched my plate.

So Mother scolded me

and sent me early to my room.

The whole family's asleep now

except for me.  They never heard me steal

into the stairwell hall and climb

the ladder to the fresh night air.

Look for me, Father, on the roof

of the red-brick building

at the foot of Green Street--

that's where we live, you know, on the top floor.

I'm the boy in the white flannel gown

sprawled on this coarse gravel bed

searching the starry sky,

waiting for the world to end.