©2017 Kenneth Harper Finton
August 21, 2017, near Casper, Wyoming.
We had parked the night before
in a turnabout at the junction
of two lonely Wyoming highways.
By morning, a hamlet of onlookers had been formed.
Behind me, two elderly astronomers spoke
of virtual particles falling into black holes
as the brilliant noonday sun began to look like
Pacman on the prowl through the dark glass.
The proper exclamation at totality
became the subject of discussion.
“Ooooooooh” and “Wow” and “Holy Shit”
were all deemed appropriate reactions.
Slowly, like waiting on water to boil,
the shadow of the moon became the aggressor
as Sol lost its appetite and became
that which was consumed.
The summer air cooled and the colors
of the forced dusk flooded the senses.
There was the sensation of a passing cloud,
a waning of the light, a ghostly chill in the air,
as the smallest sliver of the Sun
was eaten away by the black shadow.
A shocking sky became manifest
in an instant, as the sun became a distant star
All of the agreed upon exclamations and more
rose from the crowd about me.
Everyone was in awe of the power
of that last intense speck of light before totality.
The vision was transformed in an instant into a black hole
with radiant beams of a five-pointed star
with a circular black center illumined
by the huge, vibrating rays of the corona.
Sunrise could be seen in all directions
as Sol slowly re-emerged in a Bronco blue and orange sky
with a circular black center illumined
by the huge, vibrating rays of the corona.
The world was never so lovely,
the Sun was never so welcome,
Venus hung above the horizon,
lost in the love of the blue shadows.
As the onlookers left, they joined the vast parade
of vehicles jamming the little-traveled roads.
We slowly passed where a motorcycle
ran off the road at a high speed.
A body bag was being lifted into a waiting ambulance
as notes were made into reports.
Of course, we wondered about the victim.
Who was this whose life’s fate was linked
to such a celestial drama?
The bag was full, indications of a large male corpse.
Did he have a heart attack?
Did he lose consciousness
At a vital moment?
We could do nothing.
We could say nothing.
I have learned nothing.
Total eclipses come in many ways.