The Capitol Rotunda, circular hall, immense dome,
and at its eye, a massive fresco:
The Apotheosis of George Washington, the President
rising to the heavens. A dangerous vision –
above the people and playing at God.
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The Death of Cassini
The 13-year-old spacecraft sends us its final
photographs of the rings and Titan moon,
as it is steered toward Saturn’s surface.
At 76,000 mph, the atmosphere will tear
it apart and vaporize this celestial explorer.
Cassini–Huygens, or more commonly, Cassini, was a Flagship-class unmanned robotic spacecraft which was planned, built, launched, and operated in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency, and was sent to the planet Saturn. Cassini was the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit. It studied the planet and its many natural satellites from when it entered orbit in 2004[5] to when it began its final, suicide descent in September 2017.
The spacecraft was steered to its death when its fuel had been expended so that it would not crash into one of Saturn’s moons and possibly contaminate it with materials from Earth.
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and engineer who discovered four satellites of the planet Saturn and noted the division of the rings of Saturn.
Ghostwriter
Ghosts ask “Does it trouble you that
you haven’t done more with this marvelous
life God gave you?” “No,” I reply.
“And it doesn’t trouble me about all
the sadness and loss God gave me.”
Knowing It Will End
That first leaf to abandon the summer –
at first I thought it was sad,
giving up early because of a few
cool days. But tonight, it feels brave.
Letting it end before it must end.
The Ocean Whispers
Before we existed, the ocean whispered unheard.
Oscillations of air and water, weather moving
noisily above, silence below, we living between,
surrounded by our own sounds. And after
we leave, the ocean continues to whisper.
