Separating night from day isn’t dusk or dawn–
it’s a glint, a shimmer in the air,
the hues of a changing world,
the quality of light.
Cold shadows. Sunny brightness. And everything in-between.
It’s a competition of sorts
and Moon always loses.

All praise Sun,
higher, hotter, too bright to bear.
Her radiant smile comes in many colours.
Tangerine. Gold. Eclipsing white.
Her guys can’t help but show off.
Enter: fiery quadriga, blazing headpiece, 
and some wicked lyre sound.

But Moon, my sweet, cold orb
is too modest
for such a flashy spectacle.
Nightingales carry her tune
shrouded in the grasping
mists of silver and grey and blue
—the serene triad of the dark hours.

Moon tries, time and again,
peeks out from behind her concealing shadow
a furtive glance
growing bolder, perkier, ever stronger
as she waxes and then
takes heart at last, exposing her full face,
for us, for a night. 

All she illuminates is an unaware crowd
fast asleep but for a few restless souls,
searching, stumbling, lost.
Gutted, she turns away,
throws her veil back on,
pulling it ever tighter.

If I were Moon, I’d wane one last time,
then hide from us sun-dazzled creatures,
become a shadowy enigma,
a blind spot on an inky firmament,
and send out bitter dreams to the oblivious
in revenge for their neglect.

Would anyone miss the moonshadows?
Know the difference between
a star-dotted darkness and a cerulean ocean trench,
filled to the brim with the lures
of a billion deep-sea anglerfishes,
Would anyone know if they are gazing up
or falling down?

A few, a score, perhaps a thousand
would search for a glimpse of Moon’s hidden face,
eyes raking the dark velvet in vain,
finding only emptiness
staring back into their hearts.

To them, I’d sing a chilling song,
a whispered confession,
a plea for forgiveness
that fades away
leaving nothing but glazed eyes,
lunar-pale lips, and noses filled
with the smell of cold shadows.

Everyone yearns for Moon
when the time is right
when another year, another life,
another love flits past. 
Everyone falls into the moonlight at one point.