Careful Keeper Of My Thoughts

tonight it’s just the Moon and me.

even though the stars are many and bright

the Moon is lonely too.

my hair is loose and my feet are bare as

i tread through this quiet wooden house

with my nightgown swinging around my knees.

i sit on the steps of the porch and listen to midnight’s creaky symphony,

i cannot go back to bed even though I am aching and tired.

my past is so far away from here

it’s like I’m living a different life entirely

and I don’t mind in the least.

what I’ve done has plagued me like a filthy stinking beast

for so many long days and nights,

but life is now a sweet relief

because I reside in this very moment, and this very moment only.

the pitch-black hallways i have stumbled through

are faint images in my mind,

like cupping water in my hands and trying to see my full reflection.

i watch the constellations make their nightly circle across the sky

and i feel as if i am twirling with them,

jumping from dipper to dipper, from fiery comet to sputtering star.

i call up every night to the Moon,

my hand cupped around my mouth, my toes digging into the soft earth,

and i ask the Moon if he has seen my beloved.

every night the Moon replies,

“yes i have seen him, and he is doing very well. he can’t wait to meet you.”

“what great news!” i always say. “But when, dear Moon, when can i meet him?”

“not tonight, but maybe tomorrow. you have more truths to discover,

more solitary nights ahead. the warm comfort of steady love

must be born from the acceptance of stinging, liberating aloneness.”

i sigh and laugh a little,

because i know the Moon is always right.

it is the Moon that led me from the dungeon of my past

to the glory of my future,

for who am i to question the King of the Sky,

the Ruler of the Ocean Currents,

the Careful Keeper of My Thoughts.