dawn of his existence,
his life in a cosmos of his making.
Barely visible, he mounts the horizon,
climbing higher, farther in the sky,
knowing his path,
knowing his end.
His arc is toward noon,
his light and warmth expanding.
Now more than visible,
he is prominent,
undeniable in the zenith.
At the peak of his arc
he knows his prominence wanes,
his dominance subsides.
He knows his time diminishes,
his life ending.
He slides westward, downward.
Slipping farther, lower,
his light fades,
his warmth cools.
The horizon reaches up, to seize his life.
He struggles not, but resigns to its pull.
No longer a bright visage,
his face dims to pallor.
The earth swallows him.
All becomes cold, dark.
Night falls.
The sky darkens.
From shadowy drapes, wee lights peek out,
glimmering into existence above,
mimicking the Sun's light.
Tiny, glowing specks
share the Sun's substance,
though diminutive in appearance and effect.
These myriad lights are three in kind.
The first, a majority–
a thousand flecks of static light,
fixed in night sky,
unchanged, unmoved by their dark field.
Shining with luminance of tiny suns,
yet little affecting earth below.
Their radiance insufficient
for finding paths in earth's night.
Their warmth deficient to stem night's cold.
Confident to affect lives and works on earth,
but superstitious vanity reigns.
Perhaps their fixed geometry,
their constellations,
may assist navigation.
One can only hope.
A conundrum is the second sort.
These points appear not as lights at all.
Invisible, hidden,
tiny suns emitting no light.
While suns they be,
their great weight destroys,
collapsing inward upon themselves.
Intensity of gravity,
no light escaping.
Blackened sky holes, self-consuming,
swallowing light, swallowing warmth,
all that stray near.
Night sky travelers– beware these devourers,
camouflaged, looking like empty darkness.
The last kind– rare, heavenly bodies
no longer fixed in the heavens.
Penetrating atmosphere,
rubbing up against earthly regions.
Great rapidity producing great friction,
generating intense heat and light,
streaking forward.
Falling stars,
streaking through atmosphere,
dynamic and gorgeous in rapid arcs,
drawing attention from each eye glancing up.
Extreme action consumes them in flight,
but possessing no concern for their fate.
The Sun having blazed a trail,
they know the arc of their lives.
A now unseen horizon
defines not their end,
but their path and arc are certain.
They consign themselves to it.
They savor it.
They revel in it.
Those on earth look up
and marvel.
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>>> (except for quotations) All text and images are Copyright, Bill Brockmeier, 2015. All rights reserved.
___________________________________
The passages below have informed my writing
of the verse above– (the references follow)
"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring
the work of His hands.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech,
nor are there words their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
and their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
which is as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber;
it rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the other end of them;
and there is nothing hidden from its heat." (1)
"Because of the tender mercy of our God,
with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
'to shine upon those who sit in darkness
and the shadow of death,'
to guide our feet into the way of peace." (2)
"For just like the lightning,
when it flashes out of one part of the sky,
shines to the other part of the sky,
so will the Son of Man be in His day.
But first He must suffer many things
and be rejected by this generation." (3)
"In Him was life,
and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it." (4)
"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
"I am the Light of the world;
he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness,
but will have the Light of life." (5)
"There is one glory of the sun,
and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars;
for star differs from star in glory." (6)
"Let your light shine before men
in such a way that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (7)
"Then 'the righteous will
shine forth as the sun'
in the kingdom of their Father.
He who has ears, let him hear." (8)
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
so that you will prove yourselves
to be blameless and innocent,
children of God above reproach
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world..." (9)
"Every good thing given
and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is
no variation or shifting shadow." (10)
"So Jesus said to them,
"For a little while longer the Light is among you.
Walk while you have the Light,
so that darkness will not overtake you;
he who walks in the darkness
does not know where he goes.
While you have the Light,
believe in the Light,
so that you may become sons of Light." (11)
"For God, who said,
'Light shall shine out of darkness,'
is the One who has shone in our hearts
to give the Light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ." (12)
"–He who is the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone possesses immortality
and dwells in unapproachable light,
whom no man has seen or can see,
to Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen" (13)
_________________________________
(1) Psalm 19:1-6 (NASB)
(2) Luke 1:78-79 (NASB)
(3) Luke 17:24-25 (NASB)
(4) John 1:4-5 (NASB)
(5) John 8:12
(6) 1 Corinthians 15:41 (NASB)
(7) Matthew 5:16 (NASB)
(8) Matthew 13:43 (NASB)
(9) Philippians 2:14-15 (NASB)
(10) James 1:17 (NASB)
(11) John 12:35-36
(12) 2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB)
(13) 1 Timothy 6:15-16
>>> Except for quotations, all text is Copyright, Bill Brockmeier, 2015. All rights reserved.
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