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.