Moon Speaks

from the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck

from the Motherpeace Round Tarot Deck

Who mirrors whom?  The wild dog and

the tame dog groucho-marx their way

up the streambed in moonlight reflected

off Brother Sun.  I am the elder Sister,

a major player nicknamed Mirror as if

I had no substance of my own.  As if.

I am made of human secrets and dreams,

of Brother Sun’s fairness in carefully

turning the spit on which humanity fries,

and of light bedrock—pieces of which hide

in cardboard boxes packed in the 1960s

after the Moon landing, at dream’s end.

Apollo took me to earth after touching my 
surface, walking on my face, and forgetting

himself in me for a minute.  I liked that, 

liked looking at Mankind’s steps up close

where I could weigh them on Justice's

scales as Comedy and Tragedy watched.

On one, his mind-body density balanced

his lightness of spirit on the other (where

he curled daggers and co-opted wounds).  O!   
His walk and treasure hunt, his prints on me,

the pain and dust and stolen heart stones 
I learned loss—it happens all the time.

I hear the words of Shakespeare, O swear

not by the moon, the inconstant moon

Was not Apollo the inconstant one?   Who 
was here?  the tame dog or the wild wolf?   
Which came first? wildness or domesticity?   
Who reflects whom? Who sheds light?

I whisper It happens all the time. I allow

a touch and he takes me away in pieces;

I touch him, too, and he still leaves me,

shaking the dust from the soles of his shoes

loving me from a distance if I smile, saying

he was just lost for a while.  Forgive him.

Brother Sun will not reflect my feelings—

he rages.  He has given life; he can take it.

He thinks he is smarter than me: He is a 19

and I am an 18 in the hierarchy of  Tarot

(though that does not reflect wisdom at all)

and he never liked America’s Apollo ship

Apollo is mine; Apollo drives my Chariot!

he says constantly.  You are mine, he says,

at which I object! I am fully Sister Moon,
not only The Way he protects earth.  I am 
holy, I whisper, witness happens all the time.  
Dog reflects wolf by choice, not coercion.

I have my own ships for human seekers
pulled and pushed by meters, rudderless, 
and no driver needed, not Apollo nor Charon
for Apollo did not remove the Dream Ways
on his mission and neither can Brother Sun
with or without his light, I will be here.

   

Posted for NWCU Wednesday Wake-Up Call (WWUC): 14.11.12 using 3 of 5 elements.  A power-filled challenge. 

Copyright © 2012 S.L.Chast
Submitted to apiary 1/29/2013
Chosen for Book 11/9/2013

 

(FYI)