This morning I saw
the shape of the moon.
Through heavy binoculars
I watched the earth's
hundred-thousands-mile-
wide shadow wrap around
the gray-white ball
like shading on an orange.
In the creep of the dust-red
smudge across craters
and canyons and
the bone-dry seas, I saw
what I had only heard:
the moon is not a disk
but a sphere.
I wonder if Thomas
felt a bit like this--
if his fingers recognized
the living warmth of his
Savior's flesh and the pain
of the old wounds,
feeling the familiar tangibility
of things he could not reach--
and he, too, knew the certainty
of what he'd heard.
the shape of the moon.
Through heavy binoculars
I watched the earth's
hundred-thousands-mile-
wide shadow wrap around
the gray-white ball
like shading on an orange.
In the creep of the dust-red
smudge across craters
and canyons and
the bone-dry seas, I saw
what I had only heard:
the moon is not a disk
but a sphere.
I wonder if Thomas
felt a bit like this--
if his fingers recognized
the living warmth of his
Savior's flesh and the pain
of the old wounds,
feeling the familiar tangibility
of things he could not reach--
and he, too, knew the certainty
of what he'd heard.
Yes, this is an excellence! My favorite part might be "the familiar tangibility/ of things he could not reach"! And of course, there are satisfactions of sound, as when there are three consecutive stresses: "dust-red smudge" and "bone-dry seas."
ReplyDeleteI have a suggestion regarding line 5. It's not immediately apparent, at least not to me, that "hundred thousands mile/ wide" functions basically as a single adjective. Would you consider adding a few hyphens? "the earth's/ hundred-thousand-mile-/ wide shadow" ... Our beloved Fr Hopkins didn't hesitate to use multiple hyphens when he felt the need: e.g., "dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon"; "day-labouring-out life's age."
But please don't let this small concern in any way obscure my abounding admiration for this poem!
An excellent suggestion! Thank you! And thanks for the encouraging words!
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