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.