Ground Zero August Ninth
by John Janaro
It was a single bright blazing
luminous moment,
a brief foamy shiny speck of wave
cresting on the giant ocean of time.
We did not mean to turn our heads,
but the spark grabbed our gaze.
Our eyes fixed against the sky's edge.
And there was a flash on the horizon,
not like the sun's first hint of daily dawn,
mild and sweet and seldom noticed.
No, there was a flash—full, furious,
splendid strange—
a convergence of ten thousand suns.
The force fell on our skulls and stole our feet,
and we flew.
As eyes, ears, bodies spun through the air,
the clouds roared
and white hot light swallowed the earth.
There was no time to dither or complain,
to flee or to be afraid.
Everything disappeared;
everything changed
in that one flashing moment.
A moment of time burned us away
with fire raging in the wind.
~August 9, 2019
