Starry Night

I gaze up at the stars, and wonder. What happens there, so far away, so impossibly far from me?

That blurred star to the north - is that a binary system, two great stars twirling around one another in an endless, glorious dance?

Around that twinkling star in the east, is there a planet harboring life - perhaps a great primordial planet, life in all shapes and colours fighting for survival?

Perhaps near that large red star just over the horizon - it's not Mars - perhaps a great battle rages there. Maybe creatures battle with sticks and stones on the surface of some world very different from ours; or perhaps a space battle rages, particle beams and burning ships lighting the endless night.

And perhaps at that tiny star - it's barely visible, you can just see it if you squint - perhaps there is another boy - just like me - looking up at the stars, wondering if there's anyone else out there.

Anyone at all.