Lunitas

Earth, too, eclipses sunbeams. Just as

Crescendos of excitement outbloom all that is serene, the

Lunitas dance beneath a canopy of trees.

I try to catch these "little moons" as they

Propel around my feet in crescent dreams:

Slivered sunlight--filtered by an atmosphere of leaves--

Encapsulated kisses of the cosmic world, on me.

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-Gina C. 🧚‍♀️✨

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Author's Note: Unbeknownst to many, while the excitement among solar eclipse spectators begins to brew and all eyes are glued to the sky, there is something charmingly beautiful occurring here on Earth.

Lunitas means “little moons” in Spanish, and I used this term to represent the myriad of crescent moon reflections that begin to dance on the ground, in special pockets, where conditions are just right.

The appearance of these Lunitas has remained a mystery for centuries. However, science finally understands why they happen. To explain in better words than I can, here is a beautiful quote from wesa.fm:

“In the brief moments before and after the moon completely obscures the sun, just a sliver of light is visible. As that sliver travels down through the Earth's atmosphere, it hits air pockets of different densities. That causes refraction patterns to create the undulating shadows.”

I thought it was incredibly symbolic to learn that it’s not just the moon that can eclipse the sun - the Earth can, too, and we can witness the effects of this on our very own planet.

Here is an actual picture of the Lunitas phenomenon, courtesy of Adobe Stock:

You can read more about the Lunitas here:

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Thank you so much for all your support! 🥹 I'm around a little less these days, but I'm still here and am still trying to read all your wonderful work when I'm able to. 🥹