Moon Dreams

I love the Moon. My grandmother said it best, "you and I are moonies." I don't know if it is the slight mystery of the moon, the varied personalities revealed throughout my journey around the world, that so enthralls me. Or perhaps it is because she is the bell of the ball, the brightest light in the night sky; unlike the sun, her light shed doesn't reveal the beauty around, rather it reflects her own. The stars are merely the backdrop for her entrance, and the water simply her looking glass. But this I know for certain, all of my journeys in the Navy have had one constant, the moon has never ceased to stir the romantic in me. And my time in Bahrain, while revealing a different side of the moon, nonetheless struck a chord of wonder.


THE MOON OVER BAHRAIN
I’ve seen the moon rise in many places
Over strange lands and foreign seas
I’ve seen it hang like a plump red fruit
Ripe for a plucking - under the
Southern Cross, where the stars
Hang upside-down.
Yet, it is a mystery to me, this moon
Which sits in the Mid-East sky.
It peers at me beneath a shroud, or passing
Mist I cannot tell. What do those cavernous
Eyes say. Are they looking my way or just
Beyond. Like a woman, behind her burka
Does she judge me or is that envy I see.
My sleep is uneasy tonight. It is not the friendly moon
I know. Or is it me she does not recognize?
Perhaps tomorrow will unveil
One familiar face in this desert land.