Sundial Bridge

Ordinary words cannot express the glimpse, this strange eclipse of wonder Driving over hills, just north of home, it captures first my curiosity Amid the landlocked green of rolling hills, trees and rocky tundra Could it be, perhaps a sailor gone astray, whose ship has grounded Upon the rocky valley floor....so far from sea? With mast, the sail that hangs so high...pointing sharply to the sky? This mystery of amazing engineering artistry! A bridge!....yet, not so simply said, as to be described as bridge alone A masterpiece, ... as if a giant human hand Arrived upon this northern California land to craft a timepiece A sundial, fit to mock, ...fit to rock your faith in any other clock Where no spring will break, or battery will fail Where motion works a shadow, which will run as silently as the sun With a spire that one can see, for miles north and south, over trees and me... And as the earth rotates the axis on this day I will walk on glass, across the cantilevered span Over river wild, and blue and green where salmon run It gleams as if a giant alabaster sail rules the sea And when there are clouds it will rest, and all night it will sleep When the sun lights the earth, then across the land the time will keep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For Brian's Everyman's Ekphrais contest To see a virtual tour of the Sundial Bridge, http://www.virtuar.com/california/sundial/ Or type in Sundial Bridge, Redding, California This bridge is about 25 miles north of my home