halo
silently
for twenty minutes or so
the sun explodes
a luminous shockwave
holding steady
at an angular distance of twenty-two degrees
is it a portent –
an angel or an apocalypse?
or is it all projection
dispersion
refraction?
high in the atmosphere
tiny hexagonal columns
of ice
bending the sunlight
into each of our skyward gazes
beauty in the eyes of the beholden
22° halo, seen from Spidean Coinich, Assynt, Scotland
3rd October 2024