Burns Greeting 2022

WRITTEN IN THE STARS

As the Wolf Moon wanes each Janwar
It dims beside a blazing star
That lights the night, brightest by far
With verses glimmering
Take in this literary quasar
Stanzas shimmering

No Hubble scope or lens required
Just gaze skyward for rhymes inspired
With naked eye, see poems fired
From Mercury to Mars
A galaxy of prose admired
Written in the stars

A Lammas moon the night to grace
As the Eastern star takes its place
See the flitting borealis race
Cheerful twinkle light
Ponder The Plough’s heavenly place
While his works recite

His words rain down with stellar grace
A meteoric shower embrace
The sun, stars and moon
‘til imploding in time and space
Burning out too soon

Gravity rules the lea lang night
As life’s black hole absorbed his light
Our bard’s ill-starred Icarus flight
Descend and clatter
A star shot down wi’ sklentin light
A dark matter

But now, a Big Bang gilds our eyes
As each Burns night we eulogise
The planet’s mercury starts to rise
And our spirits soar
The star of hope still lights all skies
The whole world o’er

• The Old Farmers’ Almanac records that the first full moon in January is always known as a Wolf Moon. This year’s Wolf Moon rose on 17 January 2022.
• The Burns crater on the planet Mercury is 43km wide.