jupiter, the god of the sky

Jupiter, the god of the sky

fiction
edward w pritchard

An old Mathew Brady photo of the twisted stark dead in the American Civil War is shown on TV. Silently, illuminating part of the night sky appears to be the planet Jupiter in the old Brady picture. Jupiter appears the same as now to the naked eye in the Brady picture and although peaking out as brighter than any distant star and dominant among our planets it appears insignificant to our eye staring down on the dead of a forgotten field of battle.

Jupiter was the god of the sky to the ancient Romans. Jupiter in Brady's picture looks sad and pensive as it stares down an hour after dark on a lonely American battle field in 1862.