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TWILIGHT ON TITAN

Twilight on Titan as its city sleeps,
Lost in the slumber of an endless age,
Aeons unknowing their hibernal keep,
Anaesthetized the stones of time appear
Preserved, within an atmosphere
Encaged
           on Titan, like a butterfly
Trapped in the prism of a crystal shroud,
Seen through a curtain of translucent sky
Or, wishful frame of mind, is this mirage?
'Tis cloud beneath the photograph:
Beneath the cloud
           on Titan twilight dances on,
Flickers, a flame, a halo, haunts,
Whispers to cities never there, or gone
To meet a maker's myth long since disproved
By sober science. Tepid truth
Confronts
           in Titan something more than fact,
Less than the fantasy of fertile guess;
Mystery clings and serves to counteract
Wise judgement. Though it lay a frozen waste,
Nitrogenous, yet layers lace
And veils invest
           our Titan with a hood of haze,
Envelope with a mantle mist
Landscapes; removed from glare of mortal gaze
Who knows what wheels upon its surface turn,
What arctic-carved horizons yearn
For twilight's kiss?
(1981)

photo: NASA
what arctic-carved horizons?
photo: Stephen Alsford
Created: November 17, 2014. Last modified: March 23, 2015 © Stephen Alsford