Paths XI

Everyone gathers to see the sun go down
Dare I try to fathom why
I guess it is a beautiful thing to witness
But what does it do to us exactly
To illicit our undivided admiration

Does it represent the ending we desire
Like the old stories of the elephant graveyard
Where they just go to die
Alone and separate from the herd
A quiet and detached mortal sunset

Does it represent the ending of a day
Wrought with adventure or the mundane
Or a great struggle to endure
Relieved, finished, a demarcation point
That leads to a comforting paradise

Is it the color of a filtered star
Becoming bareable to the naked eye
A searing, blinding heat reduced
Becoming warm and inviting
Like a candle in a cold dark cabin

And here we all are staring at this spectacle
Our minds fleeing to something profound
A commonality that gathers
That brings us to the same place
To a story that now sinks below the horizon