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.