on missing the eclipse

You can’t always be in China, of course, even
if you might have made the trip, and though you’ve missed
it, this endowment from the heavens, the new August moon
intercepting the mid-day glare, you nevertheless insist
to yourself you saw it, asleep, in your mind’s dreaming eye -
all that you have known, obscured for a rare and
brief moment by a shimmy of the gods, the clouds, a small sigh
from up above. It is possible, after all, to wake up and understand
that you are not alone, or entirely in charge, or wholly skilled
to carry the bulk and heft of the world’s concerns, or yours
for that matter. Sometimes, this unexpectedly, your heart is filled
with reassurance you haven’t given it, trust flooding your pores
before you have time to second-guess, and a phantom but clear
thought passes through: Everything you need is here.