Moon Rabbit

In a dream I saw a face

Which was half the moon and

Half a woman's face.

I said, "You are so beautiful."

She said, "I am dying."

In a lake, at night, in summer,

We swam naked;

I offered myself just below the surface,

She did the same for me from just above.

I relaxed and let my body float up--

She let herself float down;

And when we met,

We called that making love.

Now, I am as still as the stars in the moment of a kiss--

I am not all I wanted to be,

But I am more than I was before that night.

"Darling," I whispered, "I don't want you to leave."

She wrapped herself around me and said, "I already have..."

So I gave her a garland of poems and a touch of fingertips,

And sweetly lied that I would be all right.

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Thanks to Cloudia, who introduced me to the story of Chang-O and the Moon Rabbit. I have taken certain liberties with it here.