Celestial mechanics: observed

February 20, 2008 Eclipse

Moon poem, 1984

Time counts only for the living.

For stones and stars the sun's attitude

describes only its rise above horizon,

its place in the sky only

completing some equation in chalk.

I turn off the lights to play.

Out comes my flashlight, its wobbly beam.

I shine it on the teapot

and as I walk around the room, the beam

steadied on the stovetop, its shadow

shrinks and stretches - most unlike

a teapot - full circle.

A game with lights and shapes.

But when the sun

sights in on us and pushes our shadow to the ground

and walks over our heads to leave our shoulders

at night shadowed on the moon

we grow old.

Both are just motion; mechanics and light,

but they cause my eyes to dim,

my arms to tire. All these spokes

and orbits, gears and trams;

they carry us away.

DDD

(Poem audio)