next up previous contents
Next: The Sacrifice Up: Man and the Gods Previous: Prayer for Mankind   Contents

When Halley's Comet Came Too Soon


When Halley's Comet came too soon
(At least by astronomic rede)
And wanderers betrayed a Mass
Behind the distant velvet cowl
The public prayer became a howl
Of despair; How unfair it was
In that final year to pass
Not by sin's infernal fire
Nor by loss of heart's desire
Nor consumed by nuclear pyre
But rather by the vagrant whim
Of God who'd finally had enough
And sent a doom of sterner stuff.


The Sun, a bride! she waits in glory
For she is like Jerusalem
And from the yawning heaven's reaches
Springs forth the dark-eyed groom
Following the Herald sent
As once he did so long ago
Lit only by the dim seen glow
Shepherd of the stars.
All the people here below
Unlike before, do full well know
(For Newton, prophet of the age
Doth Elijah's words transcend
Nor John the lesser's sight portend
The immutable sign of final end)
And knowing, look unto the dawning
Of the infinite light
In a single, holy instant
Deep within eternal night.



Awake! The sun, with arms so bright
Receives her love in last embrace
And covers up his pitted face
With golden tresses of her hair.
The unseen glory of their fleeting
Union speeds ten thousand years
Before, on distant starry eve
A young child looks up at outer space;
Claps its hands in childish glee
Pointing up at nova bright-``See, Daddy, see!''


Unmaiden sun, her virtue past
Now darkly sleeps, alone at last
Behind a veil of shining gas
Where once a comet's doomed descent
Signalled her eminent consummation.
Scattered 'cross the firmament
By chance, two lonesome atoms meet;


One from you
And one from me.




next up previous contents
Next: The Sacrifice Up: Man and the Gods Previous: Prayer for Mankind   Contents
Robert G. Brown 2007-03-21