Another comet arcs through the black sky,
showering shine that disappears into darkness.
Caroline writes a note to Dr. Maskelyne
at the Royal Observatory, announcing her second comet.
Then she measures sugar to make gooseberry jam.
Not many days later, Caroline opens an envelope
edged with black and learns that her mother has died.
She cries because her mother never saw the sky
as she does: grand, friendly, wide as curiosity.
Because her mother never truly saw her daughter.