Somerville poet Mary Alexandra Agner has a poem dedicated to the late astronomer Brian Marsden.

Mary Alexandra Agner.

Keeper of the Skies 

Brian Marsden, 1937-2010.   

Celestial mechanic, comet-tamer 
calming gas jets, stalker of debris, 
another Mitchell building orbitology 
from logarithms calc-ed longhand and frames 
(or plates) of captured photons which were blamed 
when their reflector’s planned trajectory 
intersected Earth’s geometry. 
He was our herald of the outer flame. 

Relinquish, solar system, all that light 
can share: revisit times, those ancient berths 
of rock and gas which elude human sight— 
to Brian Marsden, who catalogued your worth. 
Flare up your lamp! And set your ice to flight! 
For he has gone and nothing fills the dearth. 

— Mary Alexandra Agner
Previously published in The Flea

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