in the shadow of bodies crossing each other’s transits (two eclipses)

to turn, to stare, to tether to a loss or gain of perspective, however temporary. the magnitude burns us, is molten, delivers us as compromised. we have our returns, our blind spots [how many people are frozen in time with the occlusion, how many are by way of missiles or tanks, drones, by swarms of hunger or shrapnel, or a row of houses when demolished closing like mouths among the dying, or if those flowers who follow the sun feel lost in the shadow of both eclipses.]. there is what we can see or choose to see or not or choose not to see but lack the unlit room and locking door to enter and ignore. to claim, to raise some part of the body skyward, to know one is unable to pause the clock, to pause perpetual fire—not merely be its witness. [are you witnessing this? are you eclipsed by it?] to know both fires are blinding but one can be put out with sand. and must.