Monday, July 12, 2010

solar eclipse

beneath tall ancient sculptured stone monuments
a half hour past noon, waiting.
excited anticipation from crowds gathered on Easter Island,
for scientists proclaimed that Pacific island on the path.

then murmurs hushed, eyes opened skyward
as a moon blanket covered sun, brought five minutes
of daytime solemn darkness and stars.
earth’s seventh full solar eclipse of the 21st Century.

i am old and have yet to witness a total eclipse.
that it good, for it means
there is an event ahead, both moving and spectacular
for me to look forward to.
at Monday, July 12, 2010

1 comment:

Annie said...

Sometimes we measure our progress in this world by celestial events, like Halley's Comet. I got to see it, with my husband, in 1986, over a period of weeks, maybe months, I recall. We were part of an amateur astronomer's group. I was taking a news writing class at the time, and after writing a press release, announced on local radio stations, we had 2,000 people come to our club's observatory to see it!

My husband saw an annular solar eclipse in Atlanta, Ga. I have yet to see one, but I've just looked it up, and there will be a total solar eclipse in the United States on August 21, 2017.

Around the time of Halley's, I talked to a man who grew up in Zanesville, Ohio. He had memories of seeing Halley's Comet in 1910 when he was a child, and he got to see it again in 1986, feeling like a child.

This is a wonderful poem, with rhythm and pacing, and great lines like these: "eyes opened skyward
as a moon blanket covered sun, brought five minutes
of daytime solemn darkness and stars"

Friday, July 16, 2010 3:42:00 PM

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