I Praise the Moon, Even When She Laughs
I got drunk once and woke in Korea
with you watching over me.
Odd, how you spend seasons looking
down, and I, up. If I lived in a cloud,
could you discern me from the other
particles? Perhaps your down is
peripheral, or left, or non-directional. I can
fathom this without measuring scope,
yet I feel queasy about the possibility
of being merely one vaporous drop
coalescing among others, unnamed
and forgettable, awaiting the particular
atmospheric conditions to plummet to my
fate. As if we control our own gravities!
One winter I grilled pork tenderloin under
your gaze, unaware that the grass
around me had caught fire, and when I
unwound the hose and turned on the
faucet you laughed, as the hose wasn’t
connected and only my feet were
extinguished. Dinner was delayed
that evening, but I praised you just the same.
I look up, heedless in the stars’ grip, unable
to retrace all those steps taken to this here,
now, but still you sway above the branches,
sighing, lighting my path, returned once
again, even if not apparent at all times. Every
star signals a departure. Each is an arrival.
* * *
“I Praise the Moon, Even When She Laughs” was published in Sourland Mountain Review in January 2017.
O at the Edges 
Hard to find an image with more archetypal potency than the moon. In the hands of Okaji, that’s magic 🙂
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I used to grill quite often in moonlight filtered by live oak leaves, but I only set the yard on fire once.
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Hahaha. Wish I’d been there to versify it 🙂
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It was a rather comedic evening…
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Great reading this while Moon is in her more illusive mode [some say “dark” – I say enjoying a bit of privacy]. I cannot recall ever wishing Moon were less visible, the fuller she is, the happier I tend to be. If I had to put out a grassfire midway through grilling supper, I’d surely want her full assistance! Even if she laughed at me. Her moods, too, “return … even if not apparent”.
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To make it even more interesting/challenging, we had guests that evening. Ha!
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Seems you have a wonderful relationship with the moon, Robert. 🙂
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