March 2010 – Michelle Gallagher Gonzales

I set my sights on you, and
You were caught in the light of my eyes,
You were golden, like the rows of corn
That stand by the highway at night.

I set my sights on you, and
Imagined that you were the moon.
You shone on me, I shone on you,
God bless me and God bless the moon.

But moon, you must be going,
Those tides, they never stop turning,
Your face tells me “I’m leaving.”
Half eaten up by the dark.

And I am frozen,
Waiting in the space between
The rising and falling,
The rising and falling of your chest.

Expecting disappointment has never
Made it any easier to bear.
Old wives, old wives! Teach me something useful,
Like how to hope.

Yeah, moon, you must be going,
Those tides, they never stop turning,
Your face, it tells me, “I’m leaving.”
All eaten up by the dark.

You had to go so the sun could come
You had to go so the sun could come
You had to go down so the sun could come up,
And boy, it sure did.

Michelle Gallagher Gonzales