Flight of Atlas

By Cliff Lake

 

Flight of Atlas

 

Atlas flies,

Helios beckons.

What solitary sojourn

Has set him on this course,

His aura trailing after?

What dark depth has spawned him,

That he would make this glancing skirmish,

And sail on unbowed,

But not unmarked.

See the sages cast their sight upwards!

They will have his secrets!

They have descried already his eccentric flight!

They have calculated him hyperbolic!

They have given him many names,

But he answers no call.

Atlas flies,

Third of his kind,

Or so we have observed.

We watch from below,

Though his speed outpaces our songs of him,

He has not escaped our watch.

Brave Atlas!

6 miles of him have traversed unknown arcs,

He flies through our heavens,

His banners flowing behind,

Speaking no threat,

Except to those mystics

That seek to educate their purses.

Atlas flies!

Cast your vision upward then,

That you may catch a glimpse,

Before he hides behind the sun,

And then emerges,

And escapes us,

Leaving nothing behind,

But the tale of him.

Atlas flies,

And we walk below,

And calculate him,

And learn but a little more…

 

Cliff Lake 7/29/2025

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2025

Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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