A Solar Eclipse
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
In that great journey of the stars through space
About the mighty, all-directing Sun,
The pallid, faithful Moon, has been the one
Companion of the Earth. Her tender face,
Pale with the swift, keen purpose of that race,
Which at Time’s natal hour was first begun,
Shines ever on her lover as they run
And lights his orbit with her silvery smile.
Sometimes such passionate love doth in her rise,
Down from her beaten path she softly slips,
And with her mantle veils the Sun’s bold eyes,
Then in the gloaming finds her lover’s lips.
While far and near the men our world call wise
See only that the Sun is in eclipse.
About the Poet
Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born on November 5, 1850, in Johnstown Center, Wisconsin. She was a popular writer characterized mainly by her upbeat and optimistic poetry, though she was also an activist. Her poetry collections include Poems of Passion (W. B. Conkey Company, 1883) and Poems of Peace (Gay & Bird, 1906). She died in Connecticut on October 30, 1919.
Reflections on the Eclipse
Where I live in Vermont was in the path of totality for yesterday’s total eclipse. As the moon slowly moved over the sun blocking out its rays, the sky became darker. It was a truly awesome experience.
As I watched the eclipse, I was not only thinking about the beautiful strangeness that is a total eclipse, but I was also thinking about what a total eclipse would have been like for people in history who were not as knowledgeable about astronomy as we are today. It must have been terrifying, especially for people like the Ancient Egyptians or Inca who worshipped the Sun. There would have been religious leaders who better understood the cosmos, but for the average person who just watched as the sun slowly disappeared and day turned to night, it probably seemed like the end was near. Their relief as the sun reappeared in the sky must have come as a great relief, but I can see how many people with primitive knowledge would have believed this event foretold a great disaster.
The Eclipse in Vermont
Joe
The Closet Professor 
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