The constellation, Cygnus bears a resemblance to a wide winged, long necked swan in graceful flight.
 
In ancient Greece the young king of Liguria named Cycnus was the lover of the ill-fated Phaëthon, a mortal son of Apollo. Phaëthon stole Apollo’s chariot of the sun and tried to drive it across the heavens. This enraged Zeus who cast him out with a bolt of lightning and Phaëthon, like a falling star, fell to his death into the river Eridanus. Cycnus searched desperately in the river for his lover’s remains in order to give him a proper burial. Cycnus dove so many times into the Eridanus that Zeus took pity on him and changed him into the swan, Cygnus. Cygnus wandered the banks of the river singing a song of loss and sorrow, the “Swan song” of farewell. Zeus and his family of gods placed Cygnus, the noble swan in the Milky Way, the scorched path of Phaëtheon’s disastrous ride.

15,000 years ago a star in the constellation of Cygnus exploded. The background of the above image shows a portion of a shockwave from the supernova explosion still expanding past nearby stars. The collision of this gaseous shockwave with a stationary gas cloud has heated the gas causing it to glow in a spectacular array of colors, known as the Cygnus Loop. This phenomena is 26,000 light years away from earth. The photograph was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.
 
The angel image is a photograph I took of a marble statue created by Emma Stebbins (1815~1882) who also sculpted the Angel of the Waters crowning the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, New York City. Emma was the affectionate partner and soul mate of the world famous actress, Charlotte Cushman.
 
The photograph of the reaching man is an image I rescued from mundane obscurity on the Web. My intention is to articulate, in a lyric manner, his frank sensuality and tell a story around that focus.
 
Recognizing the desperate longing of the naked man with his gift of powerful and arresting beauty, I have envisioned him as Phaëthon being raised from the Eridanus River. To me he illustrates the urgency of a questing soul. His human frailty, a lust for godly power, had blinded him from recognizing the ultimate goal, union in love. Above him hovers the now transformed Cygnus, already honored by Zeus as the white swan. Cygnus, with his powerful wings will raise Phaëthon into the heavens where they will be forever enthroned in their constellation. Thus nestled in their heavenly home which in turn is within the embrace of the galaxy know as the Milky Way, Phaethon and Cygnus are entwined in a more perfect union of fulfillment. There, the ambitions of the individual are subsumed into the heroic bond of men loving men.

The nature of the universe is benevolent and its structure is balanced by resolution. Lovers are united by the very forces of separation, longing and regret. Where power is great, explosions implode, energy transforms and the universe evolves.