Solar Eclipse

Sitting at my window
while the sun is completely covered
and the terror of shadow
comes with its sharp edges,
I am quieted, quieted.

From stillness I witness
unloved children, shadow selves,
creeping out to be seen.
Before we leave the old ways,
all the unloved children
ask to be embraced.

As I sit at my window,
the world empties of sound.
Gone silent, birds, and dogs.
No radios, only
an impossible passage,
an invitation:

Will we climb the sipapu*,
portal to a new world?
Freshness! Unfamiliar air!
The opening beckons.
Shall we birth the world again?

*Sipapu is a Hopi word for the round indentation in the floor of a kiva, symbolizing the portal through which their ancestors first emerged to enter the present world.

©Susa Silvermarie 2017