Total Darkness

As I was driving home last evening, I was reminded by NPR about the eclipse. One of the benefits of desert living is spectacular access to heavenly presentations, including the comet years ago that shone as brightly as a spotlight across the universe, easily visible with the naked eye as it traveled from east to west. I checked the clock in the car and saw that I would make it to the front yard just in time to watch the last total eclipse of the decade.

I turned off the highway and onto the road that leads toward my dwelling, looked for the moon, and was reassured to see it right where it should be. "Won't be long now," I thought, when quite suddenly, the moon simply disappeared. Swiftly moving black clouds blotted out the moon before the eclipse could accomplish the same task, and the sky was dark as far as the eye could see.

It was eerie. Total darkness. No stars. A canopy of black stretched across the heavens. Ominous portends?

The total black-out lasted for several minutes; however, when I turned toward my street in the residential area, the clouds moved and I saw the eclipse in progress, highlighted in a reddish glow. It was a relief to see the moon return to the sky and know that all was again right in the universe.