Living All the Eclipses

As the moon dips behind

Earth’s faint outer shadow

in penumbral eclipse

an imperceptible darkness

seizes my soul in fear

I wait futilely,

like the ancients,

for the next

blood red cycle

to engulf the world

in ignorance and violence,

the next monster

to bite the earth

into a crescent slice.

They once watched

Luna dance

before Apollo

and gift him

her halo.

Now it’s

just the umbra,

the wispy white haze

shining in the daytime sky

left behind

when the new moon

glides in front

of the sun.