5 September 1977

Veeger. The heliopause.
The gap between the former
Joke in a Star Trek movie,

The first, in fact, and the fresh
Announcement that the latter
Was surpassed a year ago

(A year, hah, geocentric
Measurement of anthropoids!),
Consisting very nearly

Of all of my life, at least
As I know it now, fading
In my fifties (there's that year,

That calendar year again),
With scant confidence at all

Of surviving ancient scams

For enhanced longevity
(Mercury, Emperor Qin?).
Astrology, where was I?

Where art thou? It is the east,
And the dark heart of spiral
A galaxy in your hair.