Under the Same Constellation

To you, looking up at the stars,

Welcome to the Storm Post Office. India, 1966, a night at an observatory. The envelope is deep indigo laid paper with an ivory engraved italic title; a brass-coloured star chart, fine as a veil of frost, has an observatory’s silhouette standing in one corner; beside it run a teal block-printed border, a saffron observation strip, and a constellation stamp with crisp perforations.

A poet who had walked through hell, purgatory and paradise ends his whole poem looking up at the stars: “The love that moves the sun and the other stars.” — Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Paradiso (1320)

We would add one more: someone, somewhere else, looking up at the same sky tonight. They may be writing a letter, or they may not; but as long as you write, your letter has somewhere to go.

Clear skies to you

Storm Post Office

1966 · India