The Sun Unset

Tonight I saw the sun unset

as we took off west from Chicago,

climbing to thirty-odd thousand feet,

changing it slowly from just a sliver

to about three-quarters, possibly more,

unmistakably unsetting it.

The feat was human and temporary,

but the sun, all the same, was aglow,

red, as striking as anyone ever saw

anywhere naturally, an ember.

As it went down, when we leveled off,

it lay a bright bar of fire before it,

not just a normal region of sunset

but sky as red as the sun had been.

That persisted for a time and got longer.

My son is going to be treated for cancer.