When he said he wanted to be a historian
even his parents laughed at him, reminding
him that “there’s no money to be made
in history unless you want to be a teacher,
and you are so much better than that.”
He knew they wanted him to become
a doctor, or failing that, at least a lawyer.
Few were surprised when, in his first year
in college, he abandoned history as a major.
His friends applauded his wise decision,
even PoliSci had better career prospects
than history, just ask any politician.
But he surprised them all when he turned
to astronomy as that was a field
he had never mentioned, much less pursued.
But he knew, when he looked through
the eyepiece of the great telescope, or at
the images from its Webb or radio
counterparts, he was a historian
of the highest order, looking farther back
than any terrestrial historian ever could.