Heaven’s Gate
That moment when my uncle fell beneath
The rearing horse, was crushed beneath its weight,
Destroyed Thanksgiving and the Christmas wreath—
That wrecked. Cracked bone horrors can dislocate
Time, times, and the dividing of time, swell
Time so convulsively that it explodes.
It disappears among the rubble. Hell
Invades the earth. A tragic moment bodes
The opposite of eternity. It
Obliterates the clock. That Friday when
I first saw you, eternity was knit
With immortality. God said, “Amen.”
..A worship light fell on the tree-work grime
…..On your wrists. Sabbath evening halted time.
“and thus, when something seen
or heard secures the soul in srtingent grip,
time moves and yet we do not notice it.” Dante, Purgatorio, Canto IV, lines 7-9