If you point your eyes directly at a star,

expecting to see a brilliant sparkle in the black,

you will be inexorably disappointed.

Most stars are only visible

in the periphery: they are too dim,

too slight, too evasive and gentle

for the cones of your retina to focus and study it.

When you look away, the sky seems to be saturated

with white fires, but you can only really see smoke

if you seek flame.

This is how I think we are.

We search for stars in one another

(does he wear what I wear,

who does she call God)

but rarely shall we find them

while pointing our eyes directly.

Keep me in your periphery,

your focus makes me

disappear