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.