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Nocturnes: Extinguishment And Extinction
No one, really, had time to understand
the sudden, unexpected extinguishment
of the sun---the way its light just went out,
withdrawing from one side to the other,
then gone; neither explosion nor implosion;
just a massive dark presence in the darkness
as even the afterglow sputtered out.
On earth, they died---of sudden shock, or
slightly slower hypothermia.
Some astronauts in orbit held out a bit
longer, until they had consumed their short
supplies. The moon had no reflection left.
The planets continued to orbit---
the dead sun's gravitas, after all, remained
undiminished, the balance of push and pull.
The satelites, launched from earth millenia
ago, continued, a while, to broadcast
data, but no one remained to receive,
interpret, or even utiliaze the codes.
Even ancient Einstein's parable
(the closed watch, the theorizing observer)
meant nothing now to the dead and dying,
if anyone even remembered it still:
much like the often repeated, unproven
rumor of a tall, boreal tower---
great chambers of light, warmth, camraderie, life,
raised up on a moutainous foundation,
from which deep cellars thrust into the glowing
penetralia, the planet's core.
