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under a New Mexico sky
fifty some years ago
a teenaged boy stared
at the North Star
I'd like to think he grinned
but he was awfully serious
and God was sometimes in his life
and sometimes not
not that night
he stared at the North Star
and tried to see a life
he'd want to live
he had rejected preachering
would not twist people so
and could not claim God's will
that was his father's fief
he stared at the North Star
and saw what he was good at
math and science
and saw a path, a way
"use my talents well," he said
and smiled, it was almost as good
as God's will in its way
it rang with fate and doom
he smiled and chose
and stepped into his Tao