Book Cover Illustrations

Many years ago, I received a beautiful telescope from my parents on my birthday; it brought many wonderful hours of learning as I explored the skies in the weeks and years to come. A few years ago, I penned a poem about this gift, and thought I’d share it (and the artwork I created to go with it) here as I celebrate another birthday and look back to the treasured memories each birthday has brought with family and friends.

The Birthday Telescope

In the frosty winter,
The boy stands alone, watching
Orion’s belt burning brighter
Than it ever will on any summer night yet to come.
Through acclimatized lens
Of a birthday telescope he peers at
Jupiter’s moons, and sees them dance silently
On celestial clockwork.
Soon he spies Saturn’s ethereal rings,
With colors so pale they almost hurt his eye.
Lost in dreams,
Far away, spring slumbers patiently,
Not yet ready to break the bonds of
Winter’s crisp chains.
Soon she’ll emerge, loosing waves of
Lightning bugs
Who’ll twinkle the stars to shame.
She’ll arrive, announced only by chirp and coo.
Dressed in new green,
Offering her solace from the pitiless
Chill of winter.
Spring tenders hope for flowering life,
And the promise of resurrected love.

– Duncan Long