Elliptical Triangle 

By Guy Petzall

 The tide was stirring up the sea which lapped against the sand.
The sand made up a sunny beach which lapped against the land.
The land rose up to mountain peaks which lapped against the sky.
The sky contained the moon, whose laps elliptic cause the tides.

I whispered to my sweetheart on the mountain by the sea,
"Hey can you keep a secret? The man in the moon is me.
I like to shine upon you as I cycle round your world,
For I can tell from far away you're such a far-out girl.

I drive the sea and wind to push the rivers and the sand
To sculpt a ring of canyons which I place upon your hand.
I orbit round you, baby, you're my world, my number one.
Whom could you cherish more?" My sweetheart answered me: "The sun."

I bellowed: "That philanderer! You think the sun's so great?
You think that you're his only girl? He has another EIGHT!
Oh, darling, I'm so faithful, please consent to be my wife,
For what can he provide that I cannot?" She answered: "Life.

"He offers food and light to the plants with which I abound.
He gives me thermal power, heating up my fertile ground,
Enabling my children to proliferate and spread.
I love you, you big lunatic, but without him, I'm dead."

This answer left me speechless, mad with envy and chagrin.
I spend my life orbiting her, and she's in love with him!
I said, "I'll win you over. Yes. I must. Without a doubt.
I'll show you who has power. I will block your boyfriend out!"

Her voice was full of fear, "Oh, no! Don't make him go away!
My children need him to survive! They need the light of day!
Oh, please don't do what you propose!" I heard her stricken cry,
"I need the sun, for as I said, without him I will die!"

I felt a pang of pity, but it quickly turned to glee.
"If I can pull this off," I thought, "she'll be impressed with me.
Then she will know who holds the reins of power up above,
And then with me, it's plain to see, she'll madly fall in love."

I sat right down to work upon my plan to rule the sky.
I worked out the equations of the paths that we three fly.
I figured out a way to shift the track of my ellipse,
Then put my scheme in action, and created an eclipse.

I marvelled at the beauty of the shadow on the land.
I revelled in my glory, that I'd done what I had planned.
And turning to my sweetheart, sure that now she'd think me great,
I saw her staring at me full of awe... but also hate.

I realized at once that terror could not be the way
To win her love, and so I moved, restoring full the day.
She smiled, and it warmed me, as the sun was warming her,
And I knew that I was wrong to try to keep light from the earth.

This happened centuries ago, and every year since then
For just a couple minutes I have blocked the sun again.
A short reminder for the earth, for whom my love still burns,
To show her I accept that it's around the sun she turns.

The tide, it still stirs up the sea, which laps against the sand.
The sand still makes a sunny beach which laps against the land.
The land still rises to the peaks which lap against the sky,
And lapping 'tween the sun and earth eternally am I.

Relative link: Everything you want to know about the eclipse but haven't gotten around to asking yet...