The Astronomer's Prayer

When I die, release my ashes among the stars.

Unlike me they shall perhaps reach heaven.

Life dealt me too many bruises, too many scars

And my heart from sin is much too broken.

Yet I crave not that Beaulah land of gold.

It is for the eternity of space that i long

Where stars plentiful as the sand unfold

Waltzing forever to their silent song.

Why do we strive for a life after death;

For a salvation from this present hell;

When all along, Heaven's lavish hearth

Hangs not from where the angels fell

But up where the sages of old did stare

And where I humbly lift up this prayer.