Posts Tagged ‘sun’
solar eclipse
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:
- 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;
- a curved black shadow at the right edge of the sun;
- a bigger ‘bite’ of darkness from the sun;
- a larger ‘bite’ of darkness so the sun resembled the crescent moon;
- a creeping towards totality where the crescent became smaller and smaller;
- the moment of totality when you could see nothing at all but darkness through the glasses;
- with the glasses off, totality, a dark disc with a thin rim of light;
- a moment when the edge of the sun re-appears, a sort of flaring diamond on the edge of the ring.
- 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
reflection
reflection n. 1: reflecting or being reflected; reflect light, heat, colour or image;
2: reflex action;
3: censure; thing bringing discredit on;
4: reconsideration;
5: mental faculty dealing with products of sensation and perception;
6: idea arising in the mind, mental or verbal comment.
Oxford dictionary, 1950.
In autumn, I seek out rivers and lakes because they reflect the colour of the trees and magnify the effect of autumn fire.
Reflections are tricky. Sometimes they are so clear, you can turn a picture upside down and be momentarily confused about which way is up. Reflections are true, but show the inverse of self… the left side is on the right, the right side on the left. Refections take on the characteristics of the mirroring surface… in a mirror, a flaw in the glass will create a distorted image… in the water this results in wavy or doubled images as the water is disturbed.
search for the essence of sun
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1.
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the river is molten
brimming with sunset
part water part sun imprisoned
by river reeds
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2.
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I am empty
less the thickness of reflection
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the hollow
in begging hands
the void in the pipe
after the note has faded
darkness in the cradle of the moon
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3.
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if I had a straw
I could drink this sun
if the light would lift in folds
I could wrap it around my brain
tie it like a bandana
or I could scoop it into my hands
let it run honey and golden
along my arms
cut it with a knife
keep one half
to show my lover
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I could sink into the river
rise through the sun’s reflection
slip it over my shoulders like raiment
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4.
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I could take the sun
in all these ways
weave it through me
like ribbon
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but that would be only
the image of sun
not warm
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© Jane Tims 1990