Conjunction

On a beach in Oregon

We awaited the arrival of

The Great American Eclipse

After countless predictions

Of a life-changing experience

I felt numbed and suspicious

Life was vivid enough in a

Goggled family on the beach

Exuding high spirits

Even as daylight dimmed

I doubted anything momentous

Then I saw and swear

I heard a cosmic click

As the moon locked onto the sun

Eyepiece of a giant telescope

I could look through it

And into different, indescribable space

Peaceful, unitary and definite

It spoke of possibility and resolution

To a world muddling in doubt

I’d seen joining not obscuring

Then in a minute a flash

And I had to look away

Yet what I saw lingered

An arc of millions serially

Experiencing the same moment

Feeling the same power

Lives changing in unison

Forming a chain of hope

Now the hard part

No more sit and gape.

Charles B. Neff, 8/26/17