“In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

And the Little Prince
told the pilot
to look at the stars,
listen for laughter—
to remember
without tears.

Noble characters in fables
always tell us not to weep—
to see twinkling glitter
in the night sky
as more powerful
than the darkness.

If you’d been able to rise
from your bed, step to the window
in those final days, you might
have instructed me, too.

You might have pointed
at the clouds,
told me to watch
how they drift
from shape to shape,
reflect the sun,
never stop moving
across the sky.