Transit of Venus
He waits and watches carefully
Afraid to gaze too directly
At what he wishes most to see
For seeming hours-long periods which last but
minutes
Terrified that he may miss the moment
When the smallest crescent of black
Floods the lens and resolves itself
Into the compact complete spot
The dot of a distant planet at the very edge
of vision
Left to right slow moving
Forging a steady path
Traversing the fiercely-blazing
Massive backdrop of the blinding solar orb
Light-pulsing energy
A hot star burning persistent
At astronomic distance from his naked eye
It is only a matter of seconds
Through a particular conjunction
Of elliptical trajectories
And specific circumstances
That she arrives where she does
At these exact co-ordinates
So that he might have the chance
To stare openly at her distant unclothed body
Across the cold expanse of dark empty sky
Although his voyeuristic act of observation
Means nothing to her
And is of no consequence
And as he bends again towards the eyepiece
Of the solar-focused telescope
To follow the heavenly path
And marvel at the beauty of her namesake
His earth-bound Venus
Walks behind and slowly past him
Hidden in the darkness of sun-cast shadows
Making a transit of her own, unseen
Across the space that divides them
Her movement attracting no attention
And within seconds the moment is over
And she is gone again
Her tiny body lost to sight
Pursuing an orbit of her own
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