I once sat with this boy, on a clear Summer night
With nothing but stars and glimmering lights,
Nothing but silence sat between us
Yet I felt that he was fidgeting a great big fuss

He looked up wondering where space could be
Yet, only blackness was waiting from what he could see
“I don’t see it, I don’t see what you mean,”
Flustered from finding that that ‘space’ hadn’t been seen

“You’re looking too hard – just relax and look up
Space is found everywhere, on a moon – in a cup”

“Can I have space inside of me?
Surely you’re joking, that I can see
If space was so big, so grand and so huge
Why have I never heard of it before I met you”

“Before I answer, let me ask you this
What is the biggest thing you’ve seen and not missed?

He thought and thought, and reflected some more
He searched for an answer, that it made him sore
Then he realized that the moon was quite large
So he said, “The moon,” to answer my charge

“The moon! Oh how wonderful for you to say
For don’t you know, the moon lies in Earth’s bay.
And between that distance there lies what we call space
A wondrous expanse, of time and decay”

“It is black matter, gravity and waves
The same nothingness you think lives inside a cave
Space is air, it is nothingness and dust
It lives below us and above on the Earth’s crust”

“So,” he started, “you’re saying space is all around?
It is the matter between two distant sounds?”
“Yes and no – for in space you can’t hear
It’s called a vacuum my boy, but it’s nothing to fear
The space around you, and the space around the moon
Are quite similar and different – like midnight and noon

For during the day, the sun shines so bright
And in the evening the moon reflects that same light

The space on Earth, is a reflection of that in space
But that’s a topic of atmospheres and a whole new case
For now, sit, look up and enjoy,
We’ll be exploring the cosmos in our next ploy”

• Patrick B