By Judith A. Garan, Ph.D.
A Vineyard Tale that is true
If it can be told by you.
Truth to find in what you do,
This Vineyard Tale is a puzzle too!
To look to the sky
On earth the eclipse to see
In the sky something extraordinary.
The arc on the sun ever moving
The whole country together witnessing
The moon and the sun an entity
Darkness, yet the sun glowing brightly
Stationary, yet ever moving
The center holding,
Though darkness be
The earth
The sky
The land
The sea, a singularity
Ever moving, the cycle witnessing
Season by season
Dynamic beauty, ever changing
Beauty, grandeur, mystery
A Vineyarder’s tale
Amidst the beauty
Grandeur experiencing
The mystery to be
Wholly, part to whole, an island
A total view, silent in the moment
An awesome view, wordless wonder
Line by line, the imagery
Sublime, ineffable — the eclipse
Brings to mind
Nature’s beauty in cosmic time
Known on the Vineyard everyday — “Chronos time.”
Judith A. Garan, Ph.D. is a retired assistant superintendent of schools from Westchester, N.Y. She wrote the poem while visiting her family in Edgartown during this year’s eclipse.