The background image shows " ... Jupiter with a brilliant Venus above and Saturn shining in the darkened sky near the top of the image." Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) - March 25, 1999

The Jupiter image on my homepage is also from APOD - August 3, 1996.

"On the Beach at Night" (from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass) is part of the Bartleby online collection, an invaluable resource.
I was introduced to the poem when the Choral Arts Society, during Donald Nally's inaugural season, performed a setting of it by the contemporary composer Andrew Imbrie. That Spring was the 25th anniversary of my father's death. "On the Path at Night," written at that time, describes the walks I was taking, when Jupiter was the brightest (non-lunar) object in the night sky. It still amazes me that we can see planets.

Michaela

26 July 2002