See in the Dark

by Bethany Lee

Stylized photo of a solar eclipse in blue and gold

One day
the moon got bored
of being worshipped
all the time
turned her back
on the world
and set off
on her own
unlit path

She can see
in the dark
you know
so she doesn’t need
to wait for day
to wander

No one asks the moon
where she is going
not Orion
or Cassiopeia
Not even the twins
though they always want
to know everything

She slips away
every few weeks
disappears for the night
and comes back
steadier, burgeoning
with secrets
She doesn’t tell you
everything
she knows
you learn more
from her silence
than you ever would
from speaking

All the other days
she is available
she belongs to everyone
but on this day
she revolves, turns
all the light she contains
to the inside
and shines

If you could enter her
you would be dazzled
by the radiance
so you are
not     invited     in
except to follow her
into the dark
to become still
and unavailable
to all but your own
luminous core

Bethany Lee, author of The Breath Between and Etude for Belonging from Fernwood Press, lives in Lafayette, OR, at the edge of the woods. Her writing is inspired by the space at the edge—her experiences as a hospice harpist, a year spent traveling at sea, and the deep silence of her Quaker practice.

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