Incident

A CRUMB of crystal left its ancient ledge
And fell. The sun that stood at Ajalon
Had burned it amber clear; old frosts of dawn
Had shaped its beauty, angle and chiseled edge.

Falling, it stirred the sea and all the stars.
A long tide washing Egypt was aware;
Unspoken islands knew, and the cold air
Between the worlds; and Mercury knew, and Mars.

Through widening courts of space the rumor passed
Year after year, echoes of echoes thinned
To less than sound, until Orion heard;
And when the pebble was dust of time, at last.
And scattered long ago down an old wind,
The outposts of the Pleiades had word.