Total Eclipse of the Sun
TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN
We watched horrified, awe-struck for hours while the sun died
Slowly, shorn of long golden locks, suffocated by the oncoming moon-rock.
Samson, blinded. His eyes bitten out - nothing left -
Devoured, destroyed : then completely consumed as he died in silence,
In his Stygian cave, as he gave up the ghost, as he left us alone.
Shadow of moon like a hunter’s pitch cloak encroached with vulture speed .
Birds, even the skylark, silenced, harking in their stark branches
For the inky wings of the angel of death, coming - not to Ramases - to us.
Bleak mark in the east dark: coming fast - it was upon us even as we asked
What is it? Grey through miles of mist, then raven-darker, as it closed on us,
Swooped us into its black veil, sunless, lightless, lifeless - where no bird sings,
And our breath stopped, held, unnoticed: and we, bereft, waited in mourning.
Till the sun -Samson- with re-grown bright hair poured out behind the moon,
Miraculously rose from the dead, pushed the black cave-stone into oblivion
And pierced a hole in the veil, burning that hole infinitely, gloriously,
And we were restored to life in the smile of heaven.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Note:
A total solar eclipse is an unforgettable sight. This poem is about such an
eclipse which I saw in Weyburn, Saskatchewan i n 1977. One cannot help
being struck by the loss of the sun in the daytime. Birds and animals also react
strangely. I recommend anyone to try to see a total solar eclipse if it is
possible. A partial solar eclipse, or a lunar eclipse, are not remotely as
spectacular as a total solar eclipse.
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