comet in a velvet ring box 

what i can't find is evidence that
any heavenly body has ever been named for someone.
i had always falsely thought 
halley's comet was named after
a scientist's daughter named "haley."
i invented a story where he sat this girl
on his lap while they peered into a telescope 
& he told her this rock will orbit earth 
with your name. she would say prayers to 
her comet. she would look for it in the murky sky
as if it might be visible only to her 
because it wore her name. this is of course
something i invented. the comet was named
after the scientist whose ghost has
crawled into that rock after all these years.
out of all the comets & moons & planets
how could each scientist have always 
missed that opportunity? i want give away
moons. i want to put comets in velvet 
ring boxes. slip planets in to lockets.
when i look up at strange objects
my impulse is to call them the names 
of people i no longer know or people
who are distant. i sit down on a bench
between buildings where people seldom walk at night 
& i ask mars if i have permission
to give him a new name. the planet shrugs
& moves like a lady bug between stars
so i reach out & pluck him out. the planet
doesn't resist & i whisper his new name
because, dear reader, i don't want you to know
who i want to gift a planets to. that's too vulnerable
for us right now, i'm just getting to know you.
if you had a daughter would you name
a comet after her? if i had a daughter i would 
take her down to this street & give her a butterfly net.
i'd show her how you fish a meteor or a comet
right out of the sky & the hunk of space 
would throb in the net, uneasy until she'd name it. 
are no scientists romantic like this? are there rules
about naming that i have not been given? 
i won't take this back. mars is crawling up
into place with a name i can't say & i'm going to 
go through one planet at a time.
i want you to go out & take one down
tomorrow night & ask its permission
to give it a new name too. hold the planet
in your hands. it might be warm or cold 
or wriggling. listen to it's surface &
remember all the people you wish you 
would have known more. recently, i feel 
you can never know anyone enough. after all this
would anyone name a planet for me? is one already 
up there keeping my word safe in its mouth?
this has something to do with 
being saved. this has everything to with
trusting rock & stars over skin. their lights
move gnat-like in the darkness. i catch one
& name it my own name (don't tell anyone) 
for myself because
i am selfish or maybe because i am afraid
or maybe for none of these reasons & i has 
want to say my own name & have a body up there
turn in recognition.