Aurora and Boreas Bring the Light
Sharon Michalove
In the blackness of the night
A knot of strangers search the skyShivering despite parkas
Watching for the chariot of Aurora, Eos, daughter of titanic Hyperion
Borne on the breath of Boreas, God of the North Wind.
The guide pulls down his hood and shouts
“It’s over there” and waves a mittened hand over his head toward the black abyss.
But we see nothing through the darkness.
The solar wind may sound like chattering birds
Or the screech of radio interference
I have heard it on video recordings
I have seen the lights in photographs and streaming on the internet
But the sound is not discernible to the human ear.
The lights are not always seen by the human eye.
Obediently, we point our phones skyward
Filming or hitting bursts in the camera app
Trusting that the sky will reveal its secrets.
Then, slowly, faint lines of green, blue, purple lend a tinge to the darkness
But we never stop recording
Or pause to contemplate the beauty of the night sky.
This is a nice piece.