THE ECLIPSE OF 2010
(for Susan Bright)
Over 400 years since the last
over 400 years until the next
a short enough span
in the history of man
and we are but here
ten percent of that
Our ancestors did not know
quite what it was, or when
it might occur again
Mark Twain knew as he came
in and out with Haley’s comet
We in the darkness looking up
not smaller, but more brief
a shadow across the earth
and gone
And for you, Susan
hugger and defender of Austin trees
older and wiser than any of us here
who have thirsted for springs
and leafed out each spring
just for the privilege
of giving you shade