<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In The Path of Totality</span></div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Wary elk leaps the creek</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">jack-knifes up the embankment~</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">perched among pine boughs</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">in the dampening light</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">crows grow suddenly silent</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">As temperatures plummet</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">I slump in my lawn chair</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">positioned precisely</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">in the eerie penumbra</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">mark time with my pulsing heart</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Light years away</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">cosmic energies engage</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">in raging pyrotechnics~</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">tinted lenses shield my eyes</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">from an explosive photosphere</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Alpha crimson slash</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">then the fabled diamond ring</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">as light escapes through</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">lunar notches sun and earth</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">renew their venerable vows</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">I am not abandoned but</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">encompassed by a universe of</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">grand celestial spheres~</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">a complex choreography</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">stunning in its synchrony</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">My breathing eases</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">my sense of constancy affirmed~</div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Resume loud crows!</span></div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Resound exultant ululations!</span></div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What was nearly lost is ours again!</span></div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><div class="default-style" style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- b. armstrong</span></div></div></body></html>