Moon Clouds

Summer moon,

Your face blurred behind clouds

That move with a soft white glow,

Your quiet splendor lost

On the faces below.  

Embroiled in the heat of revelry,

The abandon of night,

The exhaustion of forgetting

What could have been,

What might -  

Souls turn to one another

With eyes that barely speak,

Worn by intoxication

Of sound, and light, and drink.  

The mind can barely think.

The nose has lost its sense.

But the mouth moves

In the hopeful present tense: 

You are beautiful, the most beautiful.  

Let us love tonight 

And escape the sight  

Of our memories.  

Summer moon,

Time is late to feel regret.

Don’t look upon my yearning.

Better yet that you should set

And make my shadow die.

 

Commencement

Embarking now upon your lives,

As if setting sail on ships

To cross the known and unknown seas,

Recall that with each passing day

You move beneath the endless skies. 

Up above the world so high,

Beyond your earthbound, narrow sight,

Fly colossal, fiery stars

That burst with unimagined might. 

In the infinite sea of space,

Light years and ages away,

Conflagration scars the face,

Of worlds so monstrous in size

That ours is like a grain of sand. 

These worlds the stars do thrash and break

Like hapless, brittle, fragile eggs.

Then they, too, tremble, roar, and shake -

Their final cries the eons take. 

What care the stars for your accomplishments?

What care the stars for your sad failing?

They are blind to your emoluments

As they are deaf to your sick wailing. 

Thus, if you cannot even once

Impress the closest living star,

Seek no man living near or far

To flatter with your learning. 

For if you took one instant to inspect

The make and rudder of your ships

You'll find those ships, like all the world,

Are hapless, fragile, brittle eggs. 

Therefore, have a care for how you tread.

Live your days in awe of nature,

Though free of dread.

Brilliant, young, you are still creatures -

Alive like stars and one day dead.