Swollen moon, yellowed through haze from winter woodsmoke,
Rises above leafless tree in neighbours’ front yard,
So that the circle seen through branches is fragmented – broke,
Like gazing into mirror the morning after; all too hard.
Looking up at earth’s best buddy, there’s a gulf a mile wide,
Between our thoughts and actions, our wishes and our deeds,
Between where we want to be and the pull of the ocean’s tide,
Gap filled with nothingness of night and our human needs.
Such introspection outer space brings reminder of the past,
Such introspection out of space leaves thoughts to find,
Such introspection outside body, beyond the brain’s grasp,
Such introspection out of place brings it all to mind.
When young we might have wished upon a star,
Sat still in wonderment astride a branch of that same tree,
Aged now – not quite but almost old – one wishes from afar,
One wonders now at the cost of wishes paid for with a fee.
A cost born of experiences, of youth and beauty spent,
Of a yearning for the answers to it all; intellectual vanity,
In pursuit of happiness and heartfelt wonderment,
And inside our masks slip, revealing introspection and insanity.