Solar Eclipse.

For weeks we have been bombarded with “Its coming” messages on the media so naturally we decided not to pay it much attention. Only when the bright clear morning darkened dramatically did we wander out into the weird light and very dark blue sky and see that every gap in the tree branches was acting as a lens, casting crescent shaped spots of sunlight on the ground. This for us was a 90 percent eclipse and it lasted but a brief time but was a reminder that our busy normal lives are still subject to larger forces: the sun not to be taken for granted, the moon still able to intrude into the sun's business and our own in dramatic fashion.

Meeting at Last

 ....its intense reality with love
 and wonder, this lonely rock.
'Oh, Lovely Rock' by Robinson Jeffers

Chopping wood today,
down below the rocky ridge, 
I looked up and saw it.

The slanting sun 
through the cold, clear air,
green ferns and grey rock.

Just taking a break,
warming my hands,
easing my back.

Lichen blotched,
cracked and riven,
enduring grey rock.

Looking down at me here,
but for millions of years,
always changing and on the move.

Islands, ferns, wind voices, roaring surf,
creatures crawling out of the mud.
 Flowers, the calls of the first birds.

Once, long before that, free as air,
ash drifting on the wind
from endless volcanoes.

Falling lightly on ocean,
down to the bottom,
covering coral reefs.

Traveller across the Pacific
compacting, twisting, hardening,
eventually here.

Worn down, covered in moss,
cracked and broken,
surrounded by trees.

Here am I, 
looking at you looking at me. 
Meeting at last, oh lovely rock.