Ring of Fire

The Milky Way is my home while the sky is my destination. Sun oversees my day, the moon shares my pains and earth holds me tight. Mercury blinks at me from afar and Mars cordially invites me on a tour. Venus is my neighbor and Jupiter twinkle on me. We live in an exemplary harmony and in perfect peace. Some of us get mischievous at times and that is what today’s tale is all about. 

The anecdote of the three musketeers, the sun, the earth, and the moon may be a simple family affair or they may be accommodating one another, like satellites. It might be a threefold love story or a star conference of some sort. They are always on the move. They follow set orbital routes and rotating patterns complimenting each other in a continuous game of hide and seek. Sometimes glowing their neighborhood in gleam or bright light, and sometimes making it dark like a dragon's dungeon. The earth and the moon enjoy a variety of temperatures, both on a daily basis and annually through prolonged heat and extended cold. While the sun burns constantly to beam the universe on a wide range as far as it can reach. They dance in perfect harmony in uninterrupted speed and with total precision. The movement of the three balls: sun, earth, and moon come to an alignment once in a while. The moon in such alignment tries to steal  earth’s right to shine thus casting a shadow on it. Such an attempt by the moon is known as an eclipse. Today it is called the ring of fire, annular solar eclipse because its small size wouldn’t fully hide the larger sun. 

People have always been fascinated by the affairs of the stars. Historically people have related solar eclipses with omens in different mythologies. Some took it as a sign of death and destruction. Others celebrated it for positive purposes. Babylonian and Chinese have been predicting the solar eclipse as early as 2500 BCE. Ancient Egyptians had observed the eclipses 4500 years ago. They associated the fall and rise of the emperors and kings with it. In the era of astrological dependence, the value of such events used to multiply manifolds. The astrologers were rewarded and punished for their true and false predictions. Today’s people who travel through stars and whose voyagers are learning about the properties of these stars know that it’s nothing more than another proof of Newton's theory of relativity. 

The first time I saw a ring of fire was in a circus, a clown crossed the circle back and forth repeatedly. Today while researching the topic I came across skaters on YouTube jumping through the ring of fire. I am avoiding writing about the scientific facts of the eclipse because all of that is already floating on the net in abundance. Rather I will stay close to the literary aspect of it.

It is not only the stars that eclipse each other. Sometimes our judgments are eclipsed with anger and greed. The other times our memories get eclipsed by amnesia. Most of the public opinion is eclipsed with propaganda and conspiracy theories. We should refrain from falling victims to all sorts of eclipses. Staying close to reality keeps our thoughts pure and clean. Just like eclipses cloud our minds, looking at the eclipse with naked eyes damages our retina causing blindness. 

All eclipses are not only lunar and solar, but they are also eclipses of heart and soul as well. Beyond the realms of science and facts, there is a certain magic about it. The sky always plays a mystical role in our lives and events up there cannot only be regarded as mere scientific facts. True or false, I would not deny my feelings about it. As James Richard Steinman

wrote, 

Every now and then I get a little bit lonely

And you're never coming 'round

(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit tired

Of listening to the sound of my tears

(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit nervous

That the best of all the years have gone by

(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit terrified

And then I see the look in your eyes

(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight

And I need you more than ever

And if you only hold me tight

We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right

'Cause we'll never be wrong

Together we can take it to the end of the line

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)

I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark

We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love

But now I'm only falling apart

There's nothing I can do

A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life

But now there's only love in the dark

Nothing I can say

A total eclipse of the heart

Every now and then I fall apart

(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight (and I need you now)

And I need you more than ever

And if you only hold me tight (if you only)

We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right (and we'll never)

'Cause we'll never be wrong

Together we can take it to the end of the line

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)

I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark

We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love

But now I'm only falling apart

Nothing I can say

A total eclipse of the heart

A total eclipse of the heart

A total eclipse of the heart

Turn around, bright eyes

We, the travelers of the stars and skies, and ancient cave dwellers, all are equally mesmerized by the beauty of the galaxies. It doesn’t matter what on what celestial body this multi-planetary explorer dwells. There will always be a sky for him or her to look at. 

Credits 

Google 

YouTube 

Wikipedia 

Pinterest 

By

Ahsan Jamil

Golfer, author, entrepreneur, blogger, poet, wanderer 

Email: Golfaij.com

Website: golfaij.com