as  we  cross the mountain, we  can walk 
 only at night.  long  ago,  someone here 
 must've  angered the sun, and  today  it 
 still  burns  us strangely. but with the 
 sunset  the  air comes raining back down 
 and gets  thick enough  to  breathe.  it 
 carries with it  smells  from far  away, 
 colourful sparks for  the imagination, a 
 sharp  contrast for  the stale black  of 
 the night.                               
                                          
 the  others think i'm young,  they don't 
 take   me  seriously  and  i  fear  they 
 snicker  a  bit.  you  usually  get  old 
 before you  learn  the  trade enough  to 
 take other people.  but i do  lead  them 
 safely     forward,     every     night. 
                                          
 however,  currently there  seems  to  be 
 something going on ahead.  those  around 
 the  corner   have  stopped,   shouting, 
 pointing.                                
                                          
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                                          
 my greatest treasure, the                
 book of stars,   is   a  combined   map, 
 calendar  and  timepiece  as long as you 
 know what year  it is.  every page  is a 
 grid  of  nine  starfields, hand  drawn, 
 below which are  written  coordinates in 
 both  space and time.  a lot  of  it  is 
 applicable on earth,  but  not  all.  it 
 hints  of  other  places  -  some  stars 
 reordered,  some   names  i  have  never 
 heard.   sometimes    the   dates    are 
 impossible.                              
                                          
 those pages are exactly what  i scramble 
 for right now.  i've  stopped breathing. 
 i  sling  open the book  of stars a  bit 
 too quick, spilling  all my notes on the 
 ground. one lands on my foot,  it  is  a 
 drawing  of a  muscle cow,  but i  could 
 care less right now.                     
                                          
 for it seems like there's a  new moon in 
 the sky.