The Moon

                                                                                                                                                           Moon, I lost

                                                                                                                                            you, for awhile,
                                                                                                                                as dark and

                                                                                                                    terrified nights

                                                                                                            of wrath shamed

                                                                                                     me blamefully.  And,

                                                                                              of course, fear, my

                                                                                         pale sibling twin, was 

                                                                                   there too, limping home,
                                                                              wordless.  But, suddenly,
                                                                         the other day, while I aimed

                                                                     my wait, you came back to

                                                                  me, glowing like a ghost,
                                                              fervent bright, like a fever

                                                             of white love, gulped too fast,

                                                           brimming relief in spades.
                                                         A bit of shade, thank god.

                                                       Where had your cryptic orb
                                                      been all this time?  Why had

                                                      I lost you, barren terrain

                                                     mindlessed to no avail?

                                                     Why had I been so blind and dull,
                                                    mute, a portrait blank?

                                                     I wasted myself, but, Moon,

                                                      you interrupted like cataracts,
                                                      gratefully – now, all at once,

                                                        you seek me, and then hide
                                                         my ruminating, frightened

                                                          foibles, lies; the leftover

                                                             anguish that is just and

                                                                only mine.  You are the 

                                                                   shift in me, the space of cool
                                                                       within the shadow of
                                                                          my endless nights --
                                                                              gilded whims of distant

                                                                                   thought, alight.  You 

                                                                                        know me, Moon,
                                                                                             as a mother knows
                                                                                                       its hopeful womb,
                                                                                                               and you enter me

                                                                                                                          eternal, waxing

                                                                                                                                           full, and

                                                                                                                                                       flowing.