The Equinox in Germany

 

Fall Equinox '24

high above, a ⅔ full Moon orders the sky,

high wispy clouds and jet contrails

welcome the day as the Sun slowly comes up

to beam itself bright onto high buildings above still shaded streets,

as the day moves on, jet contrails persist and line the sky

like some weird hieroglyphics,

we are far north of the Equator on this day

the Sun crosses into being high above

the Southern Hemisphere for the next 6 months,

I wonder how much this day is of balance,

all divided up neatly into half-light and half-dark,

I wonder how much this day is of mourning

here in these high latitudes where the Arctic

is all too ready to remind flora and fauna

that warmth and growing season are transient,

today we visit and tour Trier,

the first "civilized city" in what is now called Germany, 

here on the banks of the Muselle River,

paralleled by rounded hills who well remember glaciers' touch,

who also hold within the strong touch of the Roman,

their buildings that hold that government's need

to hold, to control, to tax, to impress, to dominate,

even in the citizens' need for show in a gladiator amphitheater,

where we savor visiting structures that still persist enough

to let us call up that earlier time:

better? worse? or just different?

is summer better than winter? or just different?

here in Trier the Romans enjoyed winter

for war was of the other half of the year,

and winter was a time to relax and visit,

less advanced technology ties us more surely

to underlying rhythms and realities of Sun and Earth, 

with the time of the growing and the time that is the dying back,

how much power and agency in the world

do untamed water, fire, rock, and air exert?

a hurricane can challenge our control,

more and more complex technology can insulate us

so that we force the Earth to adapt to us,

and we forget how to adapt ourselves

to the great dance of Earth's relationship to the Sun

and to the rhythms we call seasons,

to a dance we don't notice much

as we seek to make our own rules,

and we forget to follow even them,

the Equinox's message of balance 

seems more and more appropriate

to what we need to hear.

by Henry H. Walker

September 22, ‘24