HONORABLE MENTION - Gabriele Balot

“Evening Sentinel”

We watch them through

Years of striving

To reach us, touch us

But gravity wins

Imprisoned beings

Try to name us

Sirius, Polaris, Aquila, Orion

Attempt to mold us

Into chants and lullabies

Unsatisfied with our original version

Though sometimes calling us

Beautiful, brilliant

We love anyway

Between sunsets and sunrises

Tucking exhausted minds

In the blanket of the midnight sky

We shine on humanity as if

Strung together tightly by

An invisible thread

Distracted bodies trapped in

Those bustling cities

Between the Poles

In the absence of nature as

Tired eyes pursue birds that too

Crave for our freedom