Regardless, the Sun – a verse

Regardless, the Sun rose anyway.

First for you, then I, so I kept the day.

Clearly the world would rather

orbit you. Dusk is crimson and wide.

In the roaring daytime, I could not look

directly — but as it lies I do not falter.

Is it being unable to stand

that which is unseen in darkness?

Not that it ceases without my attention.

Beneath or behind or below

I know it burns still, by itself,

on its own, far in the silence,

patient, searing, without oxygen

but not wilting or choking —

there, and on, combusting alone.

What of it? I dress and tie my shoes,

leaving the door unlocked as I go;

looking, fearful, and swinging on posts

as I pass, as the mood takes me.

On a cold, wooden bench facing East;

I see. Regardless, the Sun rose anyway.

— Giuliano Piacentini © 2023