Every day, a red ball drops
to mark one o’clock in Greenwich.
The Octagon Room echoes
and the camera obscura darkens.
Measures of time are in the distance
from this, the prime meridian,
and longitude was long since
taken in hours from London-time.
The sun is our universal centre
but our measure of it – in time and distance -
is here, 0° 0′ 0″.
With one notable exception:
That which separates us
from icebergs and rainforests,
marks us upon the belly of the globe.
It is the sun or Pole star above the horizon -
measured by an invisible line.
But modernity brings scientific method
and our records are much more complex and correct
than the heavens.
Still let me set this mural quadrant,
moral quandary, here:
Trust your eyes with the setting of the sun
and rising of the moon
and nothing else on earth.
