Some 5 or 6 or 7 billion years from now, the Sun will become a red giant star and will engulf the orbits of Mercury and Venus and probably the Earth. The earth then would be inside the Sun, and some of the problems that face us on this particular day will appear, by comparison, modest. On the other hand, since it is 5,000 or more million years away, it is not our most pressing problem. But it is something to bear in mind. It has theological implications.
—Carl Sagan, The Varieties of Scientific Experience
***
on the southside of san antonio
a battalion of solar soldiers
faces the sun this pasture
—commandeered for service
flat panels capture formidable forces
that force south texans inside
every summer—a ball of gas
we take for granted
fire flung into the sky
some say straight from the
hand of god—old heat—keeps us
from freezing in the void
~
under this same sun:
mahabodi & prickly pear
rice patties & corn fields
great redwood forests & the river nile
newts mudpuppies sirens in the glistening brook
wildebeest & jackal on the savannah grasslands
elephant resplendent with bangles and drapes
& her mahout at the amber palace
when human hands have done
and gone the way of the mastodon
still: this generous sun
will shine
on the blessed and the cursed
on the wild and the tame
on the dirt path and the pavement
on the thicket and the pasture
on the cattle grazing
it will shine
on tented cities
on the homed and the homeless
on the seeker and the sought
on the walled out and the walled in
on the safehouse and the slaughterhouse
on the treacherous and the timid
from fuji and everest
machu pichu and jung frau joch
to the jarlung zanbo canyon
from the everglades to the mojave
from the painted desert to the cranberry bog
it will shine
on the hard hat and the redneck
on the white collar and the blue collar
on the iron worker and the coal miner
on the farmer and his field
on the mother and her child
on every leaf it will shine
on every tree: sycamore maple pine
all all rooted in this good earth
—under this same sun
it will shine
on the lilac and the lotus blooming
on the monarch and the house fly
on the humpback and the piss ant
on the goldfish and the gorilla
on the toucan and the house cat
—sunning on the sill
it will shine
on every caste and class
on every beggar kneeling
on the ceo in his corner with a window
on the high heeled career woman
and the barefooted woman walking for water
—her baby slung across her belly
—an olla balanced on her head
it will shine
on the road crew making way
on the mason and the roofer
on the terracotta and the thatch
on the flash of the warrior’s sword
on the backs of those who bow
on the believer and the unbeliever
on the protestant and the catholic
on the anglican and the jew
on the muslim and the hindu
this same generous sun
solace solar solstice el sol
~
you who have shined your holy eye
through ancient apertures:
— kulkulkan
—stonehenge
—karnak
—mnajdra
you who have divided
the day and the night
you whose light opens
the eye of each sleeping seed
drawing food and flower
out from under black soil
you: constant alchemist
—blending synthesist—your energy
becoming our very breath
you who bathe my body brewing elixir
removing dark energy from every cell
how we worship you
how we adore you
generous sun:
star of our existence
you who will one day
swallow this planet
whole
