Chronicles

At the beginning was this giant book
Which dictated what was to come.
(Time was measured not in hours an event took,
But in decades as they went on.)

With each date logged, images leaped across the page;
Luminaries marched in cadence to an unseen band.
"July 4..." stars heralded the dawn of a new age;
"A great nation cometh," wrote the Holy Hand.

Faithfully administered went the chronicles,
And the shaping of the future proceeded on.
"November 13"... shown among the 1850 articles,
The words "literary giant" after "Stevenson".

Then when the page was scrolled across and up
(That was how these journals were run);
The late 1950's, the entry read "McNealy, Scott..."
And, spelled in big bold letters:  "SUN".