this is Altair
the flying eagle
seventeen light years away

a near neighbour
the light arriving tonight
left it seventeen years ago

it turns once every nine hours
so fast that it is flattened
its waist a fifth wider than its poles
one of the first stars
whose face we have pictured

the cowherd on the far bank
on the seventh night of the seventh month
the magpies make a bridge
and he crosses the river to Vega

Vega Deneb Altair
the summer triangle
