Monday, July 15, 2019

Dies Solis







image from fineartsamerica.com


Dies Solis


“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see
the shadows.”--Helen Keller.

It’s a humungous glob
of hot plasma,
a yellow dwarf star.

Even the blind
see the sun ,
and they use it
for orientation.

It has been both
worshipped and despised;
its rays burn skin,
and cause cancer.

It’s a seductress,
but not my friend.



Glenn Buttkus

Quadrille

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub Q44

21 comments:

robkistner said...

Love the image Glenn, and the quote from Keller. “...seductress but not a friend” — I have known a few of those my friend...

Laura Bloomsbury said...

Clever title! the sun is surely friend to planet earth?

Jade Li said...

I don't see the sun that way but I don't need to. I'm sorry you see it as a trickster.

tonispencer said...

I love the sun both in the sky and mythology. Sad that you see it as a trickster. We truly can't live without it.

Frank Hubeny said...

I didn't know the blind use the sun for orientation but it makes sense that they could.

Victoria E Ceretto-Slotto said...

I think there are many of us who love the sun and "worshipped" him in our younger years and are now paying the price with basal cell ca and (dang) wrinkles. Another one of our shared aging experiences. I still risk it with hats and sun screen.aa

Susan said...

Interesting take on the prompt. I don't much care for the sun either, but at one time I couldn't get enough of it. Hence the wrinkles & such. Live & learn!

Glenn Buttkus said...

Yeah, 6 years Ago I found a mole on my back became cancer--liked to a terrible sunburn I got while in Australia 30 years before. aI love the sun, but it does not love me.

Linda Lee Lyberg said...

I appreciate the fact you took an ominous tone with this Glenn. We watched One Strange Rock, and one of the lines that I recall is that the sun is not our friend., and although we cannot exist without it, it can kill us too. Not only by cancer, but as it heats up more and more, our water will evaporate and then...

indybev said...


No romance here!! lol Indeed the sun has a dark side. I've a dear friend in Australis who has had a large portion of her scalp removed thanks for the sun's rays.

Dwight L. Roth said...

The sun is necessary for life, but can also take your life! How interesting!

Grace said...

I so admire the title and quote Glenn. I love the sun but not too much that it would burn and give me cancer.

Thank you for your support all these years. Appreciate you being part of our community.

Arcadia Maria said...

Great imagery in this piece. Well done.

Gillena Cox said...

Luv this. Intetesting aspects of the sun

Much❤🕊❤love

Truedessa said...

The sun is powerful and those rays can certainly
burn us if we aren't careful. I am sorry to read
about the cancer. Wishing you well.

Sabio Lantz said...

So sorry she has hurt you

Kim M. Russell said...

Your quadrille begins with the honest, concrete realism of a yellow dwarf star, Glenn, and ends with a clever touch of personification. I tend to stay out of the sun (one of the reasons I have very few wrinkles), although I can see how it can be seductive. I think it’s more male than female, though.

ayala said...

Clever. Years ago we would be out in the sun without any protection....now it's another story.

Jane Dougherty said...

Reading that first stanza I thought this was going to be a Trump poem :)

Carol J Forrester said...

Superb writing in this. The last stanza packs a real wallop.

AnotherFearlessYear.net said...

Love this informative poem about the sun. I never thought about that the blind can see it, or at least sense it in some way.