THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249 usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N 70.2667° W Altitude: 10 feet below sea level Founded
January 1970
2021-2022: XC
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER Thursday, March 10, 2022
Mrs O'Meara's Candles
"He who does not become familiar with nature through love will
never know her."
-Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
"You understand, he was the most romantic man I ever met."
"Wake up!"
Eliza Malone, who had been pleasantly napping on a blanket by a
stream, jerked her head up, fiercely angry at the young man hovering next
to her. Though still shaken, she was well trained with the censorious
stare, which she fixed on her tormentor. The expression would have
melted lead, but was lost on Derek. He raised his eyebrows and though his
countenance was pleasant, his tone sounded offended. "You were sleeping..."
"I was until you snapped my ear!"
"Shouting into it would have been rude."
Beyond unamused, Eliza raised herself up to a sitting position, her
hand on her left ear. "What do you want?"
"It's August," Derek answered, standing up quickly.
"Huh?"
He held out a hand. "There's no sleeping in August. Let's go."
"What?!"
"I said, let's go. We have an appointment."
"Where?"
"Murphy's pasture. The part next to the forest grove, to be
precise."
"That's a four mile walk!"
"A lot of time to enjoy my company. You're still sitting..."
"Not anymore," Eliza retorted, lying back down. "You can go by
yourself."
"That's not nearly as much fun for you."
"I don't want fun. I want to sleep. Go away."
Derek knelt back down. Eliza instinctively raised her hand to her
ear. "You won't want to miss this. It will be your biggest regret."
"Uh huh..." she answered tiredly, not opening her eyes.
",,,and your life won't have a touch of magic in it."
"There's no such thing as magic."
Derek stood again. "You're being very girl about this. How about
this? Come at dusk on Sunday! It would be better, then, anyway."
Eliza opened her eyes then. "Derek O'Meara, you're the rudest
person I've ever met! Go away and don't ever bother me again."
"Ok. Sleep in misery now But, don't forget. Murphy's pasture. Be
there by dusk. It will be the best thing you've ever done, I promise you."
"Go away!!"
"I loved him from the first moment I saw him, you know."
"Seamus, stop the car! There's somebody dead over there!"
Eliza's father slammed on the brakes. His two daughters, who had
been sitting bored in the backseat, were horror stricken at their mother
words and craned their necks toward the side of the road as their father
opened the door. This was a change. Their Sunday drives to church
generally weren't very exciting.
"Stay here," Seamus cautioned them.
Feeling a sensation that was an equal mix of fear and exhilaration,
the girls saw a young male lying still at the edge of that quiet, rural
road. They clasped each other's hands as their father slowly approached
the body.
"Don't touch it," their mother warned him. Visibly agitated, Seamus
Malone started to crouch down next to what he saw was a brown haired boy
who looked as though he couldn't have been much more than fifteen.
Seamus had never encountered a corpse before and was at a loss at what to
do. Fortunately, the corpse made the first move.
"Hey. how are ya?!" it said abruptly, jumping up.
Eliza figured her Dad jumped about three feet and shouted a strings
of words straight out of a sailor's thesaurus.
The boy, strangely calm despite Seamus' profane shouts, brushed off
his shirt and pants as he stood up. He looked apologetically at the
astonished man. "Yeah, I have that effect on people."
"What the devil are you doing by the road, boy!?!"
"Night wraiths don't like asphalt. Being chased by some last
night. Serves me right for trying to find moon blossoms. I ran to the
road for protection and fell asleep. Hope I didn't scare you," He then
rubbed his neck. "Could I actually get a ride home? My parents are
probably a bit out of sorts now."
"No, thanks!" Eliza's father snapped, turning toward the car.
"Seamus," his wife whispered, summoning him over.
Of course, after a few tense words with his concerned wife,
exchanged while Derek looked on, persuaded the dubious man to change his
mind.
Still shaken, his voice a little more than a whisper, the man
replied sternly, "Get in the back."
As they drove Derek entertained the quiet, stone-faced Malone family
with tales of his night adventures and brave exploits.
"There's a large moss covered rock that gives me sage advice, even
though I've never really needed it. The rock is about 2,000 years old.
If things live a long time they think they know everything and become
pests. Um, no offense, Mr. Malone."
After fifteen minutes, they drove into a driveway that led to a
thick hedge beyond which nothing was visible.
"Where's your house?" Eliza's father asked, shocked.
"Behind the hedge. Parents like privacy. They're xenophobes and,
well, a bit odd. Don't know how they could be my parents, actually, but
they are loving and I tolerate it."
"I see."
"Goodbye!" Derek said happily, getting out the car. "As a thank
you, I'll consider marrying your daughter. See how rewarding it is to be
a Good Samaritan. Cheers!"
"As we drove to church, my father told our mother that if the
country were properly governed, they'd be able to deal properly with
certain types of people. He then yelled back at us, 'And you see that
you steer clear of that boy. He's trouble through and through and not a
little nuts!"
"I knew you'd be here," Derek said on that Sunday just before dusk.
He had been standing on a trunk, his eyes focused on the forest grove
tinctured ember by the twilight when Eliza approached him from behind. He
turned around and bowed, his face wide with a self-satisfied smile.
Eliza sneered. She decided that when he was in a smug mood, Derek
had a truly slappable face. "You did, did you?"
"Yes," he said, leaping off the trunk. "Nobody can resist magic."
"Aren't you too old to believe in magic or gnomes or all the other
things it is you always talk about?"
"Beautiful Eliza, on the day I stop believing in them, you should
fill your grandmother's knitting bag with bricks and beat me to death with
it."
"My grandmother doesn't knit anymore."
"Why not?"
"Arthritis."
"Pity. Another unanswered injustice. Anyway, are you ready?"
"For what exactly?"
Derek held out his hand "That is to be revealed in time. The night
is young and will disclose everything, but on its own terms. So, are you
ready?"
"Not really," she said, slowly taking his hand.
"It will get worse," he promised, "now, let's see if we can beat the
stars to the forest."
"It was in the ancient epoch, he told me. I think that's what he called it.
When the land was untouched by humans and all the elemental creatures
wandered free from fear and constraint."
"Even the air, Eliza," Derek whispered to her as they crouched
by the forest. "was made joyous by the early world's openness.
It took the form of assailing winds that sang harmonies through every tree.
And everything moved constantly. Nothing rested or ever wearied.
Today there is stillness in so many places because the world is growing old
with care and worry. But, not then. And," he said, looking around
Murphy's pasture. "Not here. Not tonight. Not with us."
"Why not?"
Though the twilight had faded and his profile was mostly in
shadow, Derek's face grew bright with that dreamy smile that won him very
few friends.
"Because he'll return, if but fora moment."
"Who?"
"Phooka."
"He had to pronounce it three times for me. Even then, I didn't quite
understand. I could tell he was...."
Annoyed, Derek repeated the word in a volume higher than he intended.
"I never heard of it."
"Eliza, you're from Ireland!"
"My family left when I was three."
"Phooka is the ancient one. The ghost of ancient Ireland. The
shape-shifter. Head like an ibex and coated in brown fur..."
"Sounds handsome..."
"...existing since the world's awakenings and wandering about
the fields, meadows and forest groves that humans do not frequent. Follow
me?"
"Never again."
Derek grabbed her hand, squeezing it a bit tighter than he needed to. "He
lived for years free of the mountains, and valleys and even, they say, the
clouds and trees. He would have been content but, worse luck, he spied a
water spirit in the falls and fell deeply in love with her."
"Romantic."
"Stupid. He knew that she would want nothing to do with him.
He was unsightly and likely would have frightened her. Yet, he did know one
way to be near her. He could change his shape at will and become anything.
So, as she reclined by the waterfalls, the Phooka became a shower of flower
petals
that were set aloft by the early world's restless winds and became
entangled in her hair. She laughed and drew them gently away into the
water. The petals then gathered
together and became a swan. That swan there," Derek said, pointing to the
cross-shaped constellation that was becoming visible through the fading
twilight. "It approached
the water spirit who embraced it warmly and nestled against its white
feathers.
"They played for awhile, but she soon vanished,. Being a water
spirit, she was capable of moving from one body of water to another in an
instant. The Phooka
wept, for he had known both her touch and sight and yearned to be with her
again. So, he spent many days and nights searching around all the water
bodies, but to no avail.
Yet, one late afternoon, after a deluge of rain was followed by a touch of
Sun, the Phooka saw the water spirit running through a rainbow. He knew
that he had to be with
her again before she disappeared. So, that time, he transformed himself
into a water spirit and jumped into the rainbow with her. She was at first
stunned at the sight
of one so like her, but when this strange water spirit spoke, it was with
affection and kindness. Soon, she was no longer afraid. They laughed and
played in the water like
children. The water spirit soon grew to love the Phooka and they traveled
through all the lakes and waterfalls together each day and night.
"While the Phooka was gladdened by this love, he could not but
help to feel sad that the spirit he so loved was merely in love with a
figment of his own conjuring. One
day, as the spirit napped in a rain-cleansed pasture, the Phooka approached
and awakened her with a gentle kiss."
"That's the proper way to wake a napping girl."
"...and was resolved upon one purpose," Derek continued
determinedly. "'My love', he said, 'I am not as I seem to be. I must reveal
my true form because I cannot
have you love a falsehood.' And, though it required every ounce of courage
he had, the Phooka dissolved his disguise."
"And she loved him, anyway?"
"She wept."
"With joy.."
"Bitterness."
"She was terrified."
"No, sad. The Phooka saw her tears and was devastated. He turned
to leave her, but amazingly, she restrained him. 'I have long known who you
are,' she told him. 'for you
resume your true form in your sleep. I was never in love with your
illusion, but with you, yourself. Yet, I had to wait to see if you would be
brave enough to show your true self to me.
And you have'
"The Phooka was joyous, but not for long, for she continued
weeping. 'Yet, my father knows of you now, as I went to see him a recent
night while you slept. I spoke of you
and your kindness. But, my love, he does not approve. He told me last night
that we could have one more day together and then I must return to my own
kind. My father is a just man, but in some matters he is stern and
unyielding. If I do not obey, he will summon me back for all eternity
into the distant sea. But know that this day you have proven yourself to
be true. So, we have this one day, let us enjoy it together.'
"But the Phooka had another idea. He took her hands and said,
"your father has allowed us one more day, but let us defer it. Let us take
it together at the world's other twilight.
After the epoch of men has passed and we elementals alone remain. If your
father is indeed a just man, persuade him to consent.' For, you see, Eliza,
the Phooka knew that by doing this, each day would draw them closer to
their final time together, rather than farther away. And, it was in this
very pasture that this exchange occurred."
Eliza's voice had grown softer with the listening. "Here?"
Derek clasped her hands more tightly still and whispered.
"Right here."
"But, this is America."
"He immigrated!" Derek replied sharply. "Being free of the
winds and valleys has its advantages."
"Why are you telling me this?" Eliza asked, unconsciously
stepping closer to him.
"Because this is the night we'll see him...this one night of the
year, when the stars that reflect his horned visage rising before dawn and
the curved blade of the ancient ember moon rises with him, for it is the
moon that governs all water spirits."
"What?"
"The one night when Taurus rises before morning light and the
Moon joins him just before becoming new. That's tonight, or tomorrow
morning. The one night when he returns for a moment to gaze upon the
pasture where they will meet for one night, long after humanity has left
and the world returns to the stewardship of elemental spirits. Don't you
see what he did? By delaying their parting, this very pasture became the
sight of love's anticipation and not its loss. And, it is said that those
who should have loved, but could not, would be allowed one single night
together under the stars: the night of the year when one might catch a hint
of the Phooka's shadow weaved through those trees or along this grass..
before he flees in haste to wind-assailed moors and unfrequented mountain
climes."
"I've never heard that story before," Eliza admitted, surprised
at finding herself even closer to the intense young man.
"Yes, the guy makes his girlfriend wait a world's age for his
return and is considered a romantic hero."
"I remember laughing and then the long pause which followed.
The night seemed so warm and at that point, the sky was full of stars.
Murphy's pasture was out in the country and I could even see.."
"The procession of celestial familiars forming a pathway from
darkness to Earth," Derek said to Eliza as she admired the Milky Way. "It
is said that every child has a familiar, a night creature that protects it
when it wanders away from home, offering it light and comfort."
"And they find their way home."
"Not always. Those that don't become familiars for others."
Eliza leaned her head against his shoulder, but said nothing.
"I remember feeling as though time wasn't actually passing,
although that doesn't make any sense. It was like the night was going to
last forever, but would soon end. I don't know how to explain it. We
spent the whole night running and hiding, looking through the trees once in
awhile to find that stupid Pucka, or whatever it was. He took my hand and
guided my fingers to the different stars. Here, the swamp witch who
weaved a tapestry of vines to ensnare innocent maidens. You could see the
crisscross of stars as she lurked behind her rock wall; there the three
brothers chasing the mythical northern dragon back to his ice lair; and
there the children of Lir, trapped for 900 years in the bodies of swans,
and, resting in the south...."
"Mrs O'Meara's candles...she waits by her window for her
sea-faring husband who drowned in a shipwreck. He visits her in her dreams
and tells her that she must leave the window and move on with her life.
She never listens and therefore the stars marking the candle flames burn
still."
Eliza, her arm draped over his shoulder, saw the flash of many
lights streaking through the sky. "And tell me," she whispered eagerly
into his ear as she pointed to the phantom trail of one of these light
streaks, "what are those?"
"Meteors," he said matter of factly.
"The night never got cold. Even as the first sign of twilight
grayed the pasture and the whole world seemed steeped in quiet, I never got
a single chill. I wasn't worried about the time or even what my parents
would say when I came back much later. I was enraptured by everything I
saw, but most of all by what he saw. Finally, we stopped running and
collapsed against a log by the forest. I rested my head on his stomach
and fell asleep for longer than I thought I had, for when I awoke, I saw
that thin sliver moon cast against the pink sky. I also noticed that my
head was resting against the log and not on Derek. He was sitting beside
me, looking very peaceful. He smiled at the forest with what looked like
the deepest satisfaction."
"'Did you see him,'" I asked, rubbing my eyes."
"Not a trace. He was far too swift and besides could have been
here as air or mist or a canopy of leaves. I wasn't expecting to see him,
anyway. I came here for that one night. And it happened."
"We'll have others," I said, for not only did I not feel cold, at
that instant, I didn't even feel shy.
"No," he answered as he stood up.
"What do you mean?" Eliza snapped, sounding perhaps more hostile
than she intended.
"This pasture is only intended for those who should have loved,
but could not."
Eliza laughed. "If you're worrying about my father, don't. He
is not stern, but very kind. That's why he brought you home the other
morning. He won't mind you."
"He'd mind if he knew I was sitting next to a hearth fire right
now in the year 1681."
Eliza, then angered, jumped up. "Oh, Derek, whatever, You are
the strangest boy I've ever met!"
Derek shook his head and said kindly, but also sadly, "Eliza
Malone, I'm the strangest boy you've never met."
"I thought he was making fun of me and I turned away angrily and
went to be by myself. By the time I calmed down I returned to the
pasture, but he wasn't there. I looked for him, because by then it was
morning and the pasture was bright. He was nowhere. I figured he went
home to sleep. I felt tired, then. I could have slept on the grasses.
I was able to tell already that it was going to be a hot day. I heard
that buzzing one hears on summer mornings and I saw the bright sun through
the trees. I went home and fell fast asleep until late that afternoon.
I don't have to tell you that I went to yell at Derek that next day."
"What did he say?"
"I never saw him again."
"You're kidding."
"Not a sign of him. The hedges had nothing behind them but a wide
meadow. It was very odd."
"I'm sorry."
"Yes," the woman replied slowly, her eyes staring off at a
distance, She then smiled faintly, rose from the chair and, while patting
my arm, said "but then again, the boy didn't have a lick of sense."
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