nichepoetryandprose

On Monday we joined other people of New Brunswick, all eager to view the total eclipse of the sun. We planned carefully, arranged to pick up our son and drive to our chosen viewing place, at the picnic grounds of the Department of Agriculture Experimental Farm. Other people had the same idea so we were among a small crowd of viewers.

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We had obtained the necessary ISO eclipse glasses (ISO 12312-2 standard) to protect our eyes from harmful rays but I take extra care since I have several problems with my vision. So I did not look continually at the sun but glanced at it occasionally with the glasses on. The sequence I saw was:

1. the sun in normal mode – seemed much smaller than usual since ordinarily when we glance at the sun, we see the sun itself and a glare of light;
2. a curved black shadow at the right edge of the sun;
3. a bigger ‘bite’ of darkness from the sun;
4. a larger ‘bite’ of darkness so the sun resembled the crescent moon;
5. a creeping towards totality where the crescent became smaller and smaller;
6. the moment of totality when you could see nothing at all but darkness through the glasses;
7. with the glasses off, totality, a dark disc with a thin rim of light;
8. a moment when the edge of the sun re-appears, a sort of flaring diamond on the edge of the ring.
9. glasses on, a gradual return to the crescent, through the bite of darkness to the disc of the normal sun.

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Between my glances at the sun, I gazed at the scene before me, the shadow of twigs from a young maple tree on the gravel road. As I watched, the area around us darkened and all along the horizon in every direction was a rosy glow, as though evening had arrived. But the effect was not really like that of evening, more like a wan darkness, eerie. On the road, the shadows looked like those cast by a full moon.

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And now, all this in a poem:

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total eclipse of the sun

Fredericton New Brunswick

April 8, 2024

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twig shadows drowse on road

red maple carved into gravel

sun dazzles against blue sky

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first moment of eclipse

a nibble from a dark cookie

a bite

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crescent like a waning moon

creeps towards

totality

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image

through special glasses

goes dark

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evening settles on the hill

russet sky at every horizon

street lights blink on

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a white bird climbs, confused

whisps of corona

around silhouette of moon

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eerie lull in murmuring

as a diamond sparkles

along the lower edge

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twig shadows

tremble, pale-washed

beneath full moon

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Hope you enjoyed your look at the eclipse if you were in an area to view it!!!!

All my best,

Jane