Light Years

A lined face staring
from the glass
blocks out the past
and tinnitus encodes
the hiss and afterglow
of his conception
eighty years ago.

He tries to find that podgy boy
who went on trips to France.
No chance. The misted eyes
probe back in time
but cannot see, although
a light beam never lies

but reaches for a star
where alien Galileos peer
at chubby children
playing on a beach
and try, like us,
to work out
who on earth
we are.