We hurried ourselves to a high knoll in the high plains
and waited
but we knew not for what -
we knew not that we waited for the sun to be consumed the day to be erased the earth to be swallowed up in night and we with it
Odd only and curious was the slow advance of moon upon sun
with which it began, stark geometrical clockwork, one circle occluding another one
But eerie and jarring and glorious was the alchemical moment that came next
When first the golden light of sun, the only hue and cast we’ve ever known,
was sudden cooled to silver
so cool and distant did the light of that small sun become
that we seemed flung to some farther planet all chrome and steel and far and grey
Who knew we were so frail and small –
until the moon effaced that blazing ball?
When then the steady sturdy sky proved us false, faded away,
day withdrew and all was draped with th’rich red earthen hues of half light –
now day, now nearly night, in one fleet flight
Venus gleamed in the new dark sky
and neither eye nor soul knew why
And there where ev’r has stood the sun
hung a ring of blazing light lined with brilliant red
Up from the valley comes a single cry, a shriek of exultation or dread
while we gasp and glory and stare and seek to breathe
What is this thing this ring this crown
that moves us lift our hands up high or fling our small selves down?
There is no taking it in
Not a bit of it
There is only wonder and awe and glory
How does one return from such a thing?
