Repairing Light

by David Chorlton
 
Next week the men will come
to mend the sky.
Early one morning they will pull up
in their trucks and climb
on ladders to begin
chipping away the clouds
and come back down to unload
the material for holding off
the rain. Here doesn’t feel like here
today with hours
of a misty curtain drawn
across the mountain. Soon there will be
feet on heaven’s light
and scraping to remove the darkness
that accumulates on days
like this. Expect a moment soon
to look straight up for a brief view
through eternity
and the passage into space begins
when mission control announces
it is time to follow hummingbirds
to their mystical beginnings.
It won’t be long
before each broken shingle
is replaced with a blue
so clear and startling the desert
glows beneath it.
For a few days there will be
footsteps above and the hammers
tapping down the nails
that hold earth and air together, that
when the sun goes down
turn into stars.