PASS 01: PASSPORT FOR THE ANATOLIAN ECLIPSE 2006

 What is the real passport you need

for a country with a flag astronomically including

a conjunction between a planet or a star

and the Moon’s sickle,

or rather their occultation,

or maybe even the diamond ring of a total solar eclipse?

It is certain,

we registered in our passports:

the remembrance of the Moon

in a cloudy dream in Istanbul…

a sun pillar like a supernatural Byzantine column

plunging into a lake near Ankara…

the Great Chariot with Cassiopeia, on a side,

and the Lion, on the other side,

trying to keep in equilibrium a curious rain

upon our travel bus in Cappadocia-

where so many stone hands

saluted the sky…

Sirius rising too high for our habits

over the snows of the Taurus Mountains,

Orion walking to the south

like a friendly flying giant

over the Mediterranean Sea,

an enthusiastic telescopic adventure in Colakli

to catch the Omega Centauri cluster-

another  concerto of a cosmic dandelion…

the temple of Apollo in Side-

another imploration to the god of the light…

Thus, we could pass over

other borders of the heights

and we saw more:

a few thin cirrus clouds angelically dancing,

the Sun eclipsed in part,

but crowned by a halo,

Venus, Mercury and Mars in the afternoon

like some fruits in palm trees…

and suddenly the Moon surrounded by the crown of the Sun

in an eclipse which blessed the fiery embrace

between the sky and the sea…

So, if you really want to be alive

on this surprising Earth…

then never forget home

your celestial passport!

 -Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (SARM), astropoem-

(inspired by a mischief of Teacher Mihai Tetileanu)