Poem E: Eclipse

Eclipse
Angry clouds swarm the evening sky,
Spreading raven’s wings o’er the stars.  
As one beings hold their breath,
Waiting for the moment born of fear
When the bloody moon shall pass above
In its boat of ill-born fortune.

Despairing of the gods’ good fortune,
Ancients watched this angry sky,
Eyes fixed on the curse above
Wrought and written in the stars…  
Their hearts whispered nameless fear—
The blood of moon will cease the breath.

Years rolled by, and new breath
Hitched as fingers crossed for fortune
Trembled with excited fear,
Clutching tight the key to Sky,
The lens to view the spheres and stars,
And raised it to the bloody moon above.

Across a sea with stars above,
Different children catch their breath
As aged women read the stars
And sing new songs of long-known fortune—
“Luck is born when red the sky,
But crimson moon brings death and fear.”

O’er the sea comes newfound fear,
Bringing curses told above.
Yet changes now the pow’r of Sky:
When ceases ancient breath
Of seers of human fortune,
Perishes their terror of the stars.

Years pass more, and pass the stars
Far beyond our love and fear—
Disappears the dread of fortune.
Forgotten are the laws above,
The lights that made us clench our breath
And signs in with which we read the sky.

Yet when stars glow, and moon above
Wakens fear with bloody tinge, our gasping breath
Recalls the fortune of eclipsing sky.


Note: this poem is part of a challenge I undertook to write a poem for each letter of the alphabet.