Comet

It was the most perfect picture.
By day, perhaps an ordinary back-yard,
but tonight -

We are silent, in awe... 2000 years
have passed, I say. The last time he visited,
Jesus walked on the earth. Spoke.

"He has come just for you - look how bright
he shines, how the stars themselves seem
to dim as he passes them"

Of course she doesn't understand, not yet.
Of course she doesn't know that it is a comet.
She's just soaking up my enjoyment.

2000 years from now they'll gasp.
Though  by then they'll be no mystery -
the stars, the trajectory, the Jesus -
discovered all. In the fertile brain-space of her mind
there has been a chemical change, just mechanism. No lenses
caught it. No telescopes. No words. Not yet.

One day she will know what a comet is, memory
setting a light. Ether condensing to a thin dance for it.
She'll know why we become silent.


Cor, 1997