Hale-Bopp comet. 3rd January 1997 The appearance of comet Hale-Bopp near the Earth in 1997 has generated wide scientific, public, religious and pseudoscientific interest. Scientists are interested in the unusually high intrinsic brightness of the comet. The public expect the comet to be a spectacle sight.
	Beat the Drum, Fly the Night, Catch a Star ! Frost hit Tillybin and froze the night. Bitingly cold and startlingly clear. A night that stirred the soul A night of Spectacle Sight. Midnight came rhythmically Andrew beating his drum: Sian said ‘time to go!’ The windscreen iced over in anticipant celebration hands that felt no cold rubbed hurriedly a telescope to the soul. The car coughed to life The farm track bumped and hurdled - as if urging. Count the gaps: count the rhythm – Faster: No time to waste! Fly the pot-holes Peer the telescope! Gosh – what’s that? A jewel. A wonder. A spectacle sight. Hale-bopp: such Brightness. SUCH BRIGHTNESS. Beat the drum, fly the night, catch a star 4.04 and Hale-Bop reigns its brightest! SUCH BRIGHTNESS. Peter and Sian Now ‘mum & dad’ Fingers could not dial Lips that could not speak ‘we have a boy… a lovely boy’ Beat the drum, Fly the night, Catch a star!
			Andrew Robert Gordon born at 4.04am on Saturday the 8th March 1997 in Aberdeen Poem & pictures by your Daddy