Looking Out the Window at the Moon

Looking Out the Window at the Moon


She said it had been while you slept that the moon and she were talking
But I know that she had been thinking what to say long before your eyes closed in sleep
In her heart you existed as prayer itself, there was nothing to separate you from the glow of the moon
There was nothing to ask for but everything
Offered to you on platters of platinum carried by hands gloved with the finest spun gold
Worthy to receive simply by virtue of existence.

I know that even though her song came later
The melody was already building itself in her heart and wrapping its tendrils around her soul
So tenderly that she never felt the tug of the roots pulling the vines deeper still
Nor did she feel—she barely noticed—the prick of the thorns that drew beads of red blood
Asking for protection for you the beloved
While sacrificing her own heart to be crucified on love’s behalf.

This is what love is
I thought to myself
This longing for the eternal perpetuity of the beloved
Ever captured as a rose in crystal lead
Never change
Never fade
Never go.