Totality - APril 8 2023

 

Totality

April 8 2023

The path of totality

could be a formula for living;

like the path to forgiveness,

the path of enlightenment,

the path to mastering

the fallible mind.

But what it really means

is maximum darkness,

the exact centre

of the sun's path

in a total eclipse.

In a world of greys

soft boundaries

and shifting lines

there are few absolutes.

So what a relief

to experience this

just as they predicted.

Somehow the moon

the perfect size and distance

to precisely fit the sun.

So just the corona is visible,

a ghostly halo

of ionized gas

in the blackness of deep space,

writhing like the hissing snakes

that gird Medusa's head.

And darkness, racing toward you

until stars appear

the temperature drops

and songbirds stop cold,

as if shocked

by the sudden fall of night.

When you look up

and feel like an astronaut

on spaceship earth,

ahhhh in breathless wonder

as total darkness reveals

its intricately choreographed dance

in the embrace of the cosmos.

Which might just change your life after all.

Help you recognize your smallness.

Compel you to contend

with the great indifferent forces

that were here before you were born

and will go on for eons more.