The Guardian Sky

It is a wild field out in space

where ancient rocks

wander without purpose, 

drawn by Earth’s gravity

they plunge toward us

a ceaseless rain of stone

falling since the birth of Earth

Yet we live beneath the vigilant shield

of our atmosphere

our unseen guardian

that resists the cosmic intruders,

as the meteors attack

that atmosphere burns them up  

and turns lethal strikes into

the luminous starfalls

etched across the night sky

a catastrophe transformed

into fleeting beauty.

But imagine a world unprotected

by our atmosphere 

the Earth would be 

struck by ceaseless meteors

its surface pocked with 

countless craters

all life exposed

to the fearful force of the cosmos,

how fortunate we are

to dwell beneath our guardian sky

By Shih-Fang Wang

From: United States