Comments

Originally, I posted Sirius on May 7th, 2006 on a discussion board unterbrücken.de which doesn’t exist anymore. The following comments are from this discussion board.


HienTau’s comment, posted on 7 May 2006:

As the major star of the “Big Dog” constellation, it is often called the “Dog Star”. […] At a distance of 2.6 pc or 8.57 light years, Sirius is also one of the nearest stars to Earth.

That really doesn’t look like you ;)

In 1844 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel deduced that Sirius was actually a binary star. In 1862 Alvan Graham Clark discovered the companion, which is called Sirius B, or affectionately “the Pup”. The visible star is now sometimes known as Sirius A. The two stars orbit each other with a separation of about 20 AU and a period of close to 50 years.

A nice poem, from my point of view, and a sad one, too. The narrator is just watching. No envy, but loneliness; in contrast to the seemingly joyful, innocent stars. And of course he wants to take part, too and decides to get involved.
Of course you could have used any binary system you like, but it was the one, that is being connected with dogs and the text probably expresses your longing for a life with a dog, I guess.
The end of the poem is open. There’s no giving up, but also no success yet, though the gravitation is obviously a step towards the latter.

What I didn’t get is: Why do you call the stars “dancing”? Aren’t they moving very, very slowly?


My reply, posted on 8 May 2006:

That’s a nice interpretation and you asked a good question.
However, you could argue that stars move very fast. Only the vast dimensions in space make their movement look slow.

When I go to work in the morning crossing the park I usually see people with their dogs. They often meet with other dog owners, which is nice because it gives their dogs the chance to meet conspecifics. So I often get to see dogs frolic and play with each other. When I turn my attention back to my way I realize that I’ve drifted towards the dogs, even though I didn’t mean to. It is as if I wouldn’t control it. It’s as if they had a gravitational influence on me, like planets and stars in universe. And that’s where my idea is different from yours: I don’t decide to get involved.

Well, stars and dogs don’t actually dance. I have thought of the movie “Dances with the Wolves” when choosing the word. It is running, moving, just for the fun of it. I assume stars don’t experience happiness, but they move in circles, sometimes around each other like in a ballet or a waltz.

I kind of like astronomy. So, yeah, I draw an analogy between space and my personal life. And you figured out Sirius as the link. :)


I added on 10 May 2006:

It’s interesting to see how many layers of meaning you can find in such a short text. In case I didn’t express it very well yet: I can actually identify with your interpretation and I think it’s as legitimate as the others.


HienTau’s reply, posted on 11 May 2006:

Thanks!