Moon Song: Call and Response

I am Salena

Luna Mahina

Rishima Purnima

Ramachandra

Jyotsana

Enraptured my gaze

rivets as you float

large and low in the sky

you dwarf my thoughts

and everything

in my field of view

I am ever present

I shine in the darkness

during the day I defer

my brilliance is oblique

by reflection I show

what cannot

be gazed upon

straightaway

On this winter night

I recall the pull and swell

of bracing summer salt water

cradling my outstretched limbs

awaiting the next lifting

but now I want to know why

your expression never changes

despite tilt rotation

or shifting horizons

I command my own gravity

yet other forces pull me away

I dance with Sun and Earth

where we lead Ocean follows

at my perigee and apogee

the tides swell and recede

by the names of spring and neap

they rise and fall

You emanate

primordial sound

it seems to reverberate

even in silence

drifting through this

and every night your form

merges with my vision

subduing earthly distractions

When I appear

in my Fullness

some creatures howl

they sing the exquisite agony

of yearning to behold

the effulgence of Creation

my luminous equilibrium

cools their heated brows

Yes I know you in my body

my vessel holds and releases

readiness for life

each time you show

your face

My illumination remains

constant through

shifting conditions

I dazzle but do not

overwhelm

How did you orchestrate

the thousand slivers of silver

blue cloud against backlit sky

so they all point toward you

pulling my attention

into your center of gravity

only to banish all clouds

before I glance again

so a perfectly diffuse

ring encircles you

Release your wondering

wandering mind

and look there at your feet

where field mice scurry

between blades that crackle

gold and then brown

hold not the shifting forms

but embrace me

when I loom large

and yearn as I recede

feel your heart

splinter and break

in aching readiness then

let it melt into

ten thousand Suns