Higher Education

Country Star

The first thing you notice when back in the country is the stars. The stars in the sky. The ones you gazed up at for thirteen years, wondering when they were created, how they got there, how far away they were, never really noticing how much of a miracle it was that they were even placed there at all...white, yellow, red, and blue pushpins mapping their place on a blank black canvas. These were the individuals who populated the sky above, who by studying them and their location could lead you to believe the place you were in. There are no stars in the city, aside from the lucky few which pass through the veil of light pollution emanating at all hours of the day. Those few keep me company when I look up, and having those few surely does the job. But what I see in those few is a barren field with a few trees, an expanse of beautiful black land cut down by light, as if the companies had cut them down and kept them for themselves, drowning out the stars' canopies with their own advertisements. The difference there is whether they use the blade of the axe or the beam of light. The once place in the world I can marvel at the forest of stars is back home where the light can't reach the trees. I look up and find myself in the wood, where two paths may diverge. Those trees in the sky guide me to my own path, the one I realize as I look down is already below my feet.