updated: Affairs of the cosmos; an intimate theft

  

Affairs of the cosmos; an intimate theft              

Dedicated to the upcoming solar eclipse on 12 August, 2026

the reality of the event on 12 August, 2026 

 

 

A dialogue between anticipation and reality; I wrote the piece in July.  

Now I’m following up with a commentary to break down the original into a sort of ethnography of the actual event.

 

Furnace of gold is he

The moon, she

Shadowy silhouettes

They gaze at each other

They are still so far

Away

Trajectories never permitted to touch

Except for this single stolen hour

 

We arrived at 17:00 to the Moinho de Vento do Moleiro before the (small) crowd arrived. One couple was setting up their high-powered telescope. Another had their mini-van parked and set up with full awnings, cookers, etc. I am always coming through V.N. d Poiares, but seeing so much of the community together in one place just hit differently.

 

As I looked at the surroundings, I noticed a few things:

·      It’s a Sagres Nation here in VNdP

·      Everybody was smiling and enjoying themselves with lots of stories and laughter

 

The moon started to eclipse the sun: 18:36

Maximum coverage:                           19:33

Ended:                                                 20:26

 

 Her luminous body slowly pressing against his blinding heat

A celestial embrace

A collision of desire

Late-afternoon of delight-

Full vibrant resinous amber hues

Alchemy of sharing secrets in the darkness

eARTh shivers

two celestial deities lose themselves in one another

 

As the event commenced, people began putting on their protective glasses (a few brought welding helmets).   We were all voyeurs to this seriously monumental event. I was watching some young kids riding their bicycles and running and wondered if they would remember this event when they were older. The last eclipse I viewed was back on Maui in 1996 and my boyfriend and I were on the backside in Kaupo camping out in the 100% totality zone. I feel pretty fortunate to be in region where I could experience this.

 

suspended above the sea,    

their union peaks

mortals look closely

she is a halo of pure white fire

a lifetime of waiting releases

sun and moon alchemize into unified twilight

 

Well, we were in the mountains, so the first line of Stanza 3 should read ‘suspended above the mountains,’

 

Line #3… it wasn’t a total eclipse, so there was no halo to view at its peak 97% totality point @ 17:33

 

Starting at around 17:15 we started to notice the atmospheric light changing, though. The breeze picked up more, and when looking towards (not at!) the sun, you could see it should be much lower & closer to ‘setting’ because the light was changing and the sun would normally be at the horizon line.

At this point, it was more interesting to look at the setting and not at the event itself with the glasses on.  The atmospheric hues, I can’t fully capture with words.

 

When looking at the event, though, the moon (she) just sailed right in the middle of the sun and eARTh and we witnessed this. Men and women of science have been studying these cosmic events for centuries and documenting these occurrences. This timeless human impulse to experience, to theorize, and to document, for me, fulfills some primal emotional human need.

 

cosmic law, though, dictates

their union cannot last

all mankind should heave a collective grateful sigh of relief

she makes the first move

her dark form sliding away

from his golden warmth

 

The moon continues on her trajectory, removing herself from the sun’s orbit. She’s moving on. It’s written in the stars. I looked around at everybody. Most were engaged in lively conversations and everybody was eating and drinking (Sagres Nation, remember it).

 

a broken embrace

a horizon bruises

crushed violets and crimson rose petals scatter

across the skyline

the sun, alone, sinks into the Atlantic

sulking

aching

the touch of his fleeting lover

he carries within his rays

The eclipse here, I can’t really describe it except to say that it just felt like home; experiencing it here, making memories here, becoming ingrained in the landscape here, and feeling like I’m part of something that will keep me grounded here. I haven’t felt ‘grounded’ in like forever, and I have always been fine with that feeling— floating through place-to-place. It’s like diving off the deep end of a pool. I’m just putting my trust in it all that I’m moving forward in positivity.

 

the moon?

Again, she slips between eARTh and her lover

Only to move on

To separate again

 

I feel like I’ve been effortlessly slipping through time and space for a few decades, and the next chapter… I know, but I don’t know. I just might be becoming whole; maybe I can stop separating myself. Maybe I don’t even know what I’m talking about. Maybe I should simply remain quiet and just watch my world unfold and let the cards fall where they may.  

 

She

A phantom receding into the void

He

Will burn through a thousand lonely dawns

Seeking out her silhouette on the tide

Until they again find their rhythm

 

The next solar eclipse (that I might be privy to observing) will occur in August 2027. It will be visible in Morocco— where I currently work/reside. What is it with these two countries that I find myself straddling right now? I step out of Portugal and back into Morocco with such ease, but is it, in fact, becoming more and more challenging? I have such thoughts, at times, where I wonder if I will ever feel ‘tethered’ to a steady thing. Do I want this? What do I want? I still have no answers, but I’m somewhere in the middle of a fast-track trajectory into fucking around and finding out… Whatever the question actually is, finding my rhythm where I land is likely the answer.