This morning just forty-five minutes past sunrise

Just forty-four days short of autumn.

A fast fading two weeks past the midpoint of the summer

When each golden sunrise and sunset mean fewer minutes of daylight

Today two minutes in the morning and one in the evening.

A mere two hours ahead of low tide.

With the remnants of Gert the seventh tropical storm of the year

Six hundred miles off our New England coast

Aiming its energy with eight-foot wave swells pounding the beach.

It is four days shy of the Great Darkening–The Totality

There is no sign here of this grand event.

No portending that the cosmos has such a surprise in store.

Just ahead, a scattering of polished stones

Arranged like a Jackson Pollack painting

I run around them to leave this 

Random array so beautifully ordered

Just at is was when I found it.

I take a moment to mark my spot on the spinning planet

A hand over my beating heart to enjoy a soft breath

I anchor myself in the moment.

Even as the planet turns on its axis 

Like a gyroscope

A thousand miles an hour.

Even as we journey around the sun

Sixty-six thousand miles per hour

On target for our annual ride,

Circling the sun with the moon in tow.

As we spin around the sun

Our galaxy races around the solar system

At light-year speeds.

Even as others race apart

So, we are here on three thrill rides 

Hurtling through space and time

Confident that we are anchored in both. 

(Although we are in neither.)

Sun and shadow, I move in the rhythm of the universe

Even my tiny world, this shred of time.

Synchronized with the sun and sea

And this particular moment in time

Which commands my attention and doesn’t let go.