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There isn't a grey cell
within my head.
No awareness
of what to write.
My mind is blank,
no words come to
be used in verse.
So here it is
a fond adieu.

Is it Kismet
or just plain sad?
The hottest day
is on Friday
the thirteenth.

Shades of night,
replace the day,
as night creatures,
come out to be,
a scary moment,
if you were there,
without a light.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74's graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. This sharp composite was constructed from image data recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy's large star-forming regions. With a lower surface brightness than most galaxies in the Messier catalog, M74 is sometimes known as the Phantom Galaxy.

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I try to run.
I try to hide
from the empty space
which is beside
me now. A void
I cannot replace,
nor shall I try.

Tell me you love me,
I hope you can
to this poor excuse
of a simple, old man.

When the dawn breaks,
there is no noise,
except for the Rooster
who crows to say,
"Time for all to rise,
on this brand new day."

He swung the mallet
like no other man,
for he was the famous
Gandy Dancer and
he could lay rail
for hours a day.
His tool was the long
nosed Spike Hammer.
He would swing over
the rail to drive in a spike.
Don't miss the spike
as the handle will hit the
rail and the head will break.

Photo shared by Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But the red emission region roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its popular name. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, below and left of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Just too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, it almost covers the area of a full moon in planet Earth's sky.

Photo by Mike Selby