Poetry, Theme Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

Montauk’s Glow

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for dVerse Poet’s Pub: “My God,
It’s Full of Stars”. Our host, Dora, invites us
to write a poem inspired by stars in the night sky.

© Jonathan Elcock Photography

Old pilings stand like soldiers in the tide,
their shadows drowned in silver, ever still….
above them, dust of ancient stars collide,
a river bent across the night’s dark hill.

The land behind us hums with amber light,
Montauk’s glow a small and mortal thing,
while overhead, ten billion years take flight
in dust that makes the darkness swell and sing.

I stand there, feeling smaller by the mile,
a speck upon a speck upon a shore,
yet something in that vast and star-thrown aisle
makes me feel closer to it all the more

Alone. The rocks kept watch. The sea stayed low.
The galaxy leaned down to touch the deep….
and for one breath, before I had to go,
I held the whole of heaven, mine to keep.

NAR©2026

This is “Andomeda” by Paul Weller

“My God, It’s Full of Stars”

Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.

26 thoughts on “Montauk’s Glow”

  4. This reads like a musical rhapsody that swells and flows like the tide, the beauty of the scene and the overflow of emotion it engenders in perfect harmony with the view above and below. We can feel the heart expanding to take in an overwhelming sense of relative insignificance and at the same time a mystical union, “the galaxy leaned down to touch the deep” — and a sense of possession, a gift received and treasured. You sounded all the right notes in this poem, Nancy, profound and filled with beauty. So wonderful.

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    1. Dora, I am blown away by your comments. I guess you can tell how much I love Montauk! Vacationing there each summer for more than 30 years was a joy; we watched our children grow up and eventually bring their own children for more wonderful summers. Sitting under the stars at the easternmost tip of New York is a unique experience. Only a little more two hours from NYC, Montauk feels like a remote patch of land floating far off in the ocean; there are no big city lights, the air is clean, the quiet otherworldly, and the stars are there in abundance for the taking …. or so it seems. It is a mind-blowing and humbling experience just to think how wondrous and immense the universe is. Thank you so very much for your most gracious and complimentary comments, Dora. They mean so much to me. ☺️ ✨

      “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1

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      1. You’re so very welcome, Nancy. It’s hard to imagine such an isolated and pristine spot so near NYC. I can only imagine how the memories collected over the years must make Montauk all the more precious.

        Psalm 19 says it all, doesn’t it, about God’s creation shouting out his praise and bearing the marks of his glory, his beauty. He has not only given us his creation to enjoy, he has given us himself in love. Grace upon grace. ❤️

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