Two Poems Concerning The Sun

1. June Evensong

 

 

I never used to be afraid of days like these –

the alpha, beta, gamma of the sun

melting a city’s heart.

 

I sit alone, watch the glittering road taper,

translating its lead-filled hunger

into shimmering heat.

 

In the tower blocks opposite

refracted light floods the stairwells,

bounces onto rooves, bounces into our dreams.

 

I fill my glass to its brim –

wet through and naked in this new world -  

sup the hot day’s air,

 

hide behind dark curtains

until dusk ignites a million

restless seers.

 

Our loneliness burns as the heat rises;

my thoughts become scorched beyond repair.

Each road cascades to yellow

 

before the Sun observes us once again

and we sit in shadow, trembling,

quenching our thirst.

 

 

 

 

2. Icarus Falling

 

 

Like Moses smote the rock of Hareb

my father smote my wings by night

glued ostrich feathers onto a bamboo frame.

I wore them and felt the spirit of adoration

pour from me. ‘Now my work is done’ he said.

‘Go to the mountain top, offer yourself to the sky.

Only then can you call yourself a man.’

 

I carried my wings to the great mountain –

a seminal peak of admonition, the crested rock

bleached like cathedral stone. I stood on the precipice,

shouted into the abyss. The echo created surf waves of sound

that answered me in kind.

‘Sister - fasten these wings as tightly as you can

so I might soar and reach for the stars.’

 

Because isn't every man's dream to fly ? - to reach,

to attain the unattainable, to embrace his own version

of immortality, to clasp hands with his God ?

The sun hangs like a golden crown.

Smiling faces garland me with flowers.

My sister kisses my lips, implores me

to discover the fiery secret of our existence.

 

Now, watch me fall.