Mauna Kea

By Tyler Mobley 

Rising from red shale   

Golf ball esque structures the  

Size of houses, scattered among

A remote volcanic remnant in absolute Pacific isolation. 

Those of the method make 

Pilgrimages past planetariums, Alpine lakes, 14,000 feet well 

Above clouds. To gaze with The widest eyes the world 

Has seen. Harsh winds 

Thin air, a surrealness 

In the presences of 

Cathedrals of science. 

Over there the Subaru scope of Japan, yonder 

Gemini North seeks 

Infrared, all the while

The eye of Sauron itself, Kea’s sugar plum, the 

Aperture of the East, big daddy glass, the 

Keck Observatory,

Sits as one of the many 

Snow topped cinder cones

For the ancients named it

White mountain.  

A waist

high circular    

Stack of stones designates 

A sacred past, today’s 

Worship requires funding, 

Less atmosphere, Less light  

Brings the beyond ever closer, 

A milky galactic plane 

Up here, we are not alone.