Last Night of the Moon – Susan Varo 12/9/1997

Blackened against a radian sun

surrounded by a fiery ring

no craters to soften a fallen star

cut down Apollo’s wing

In the early hours

on a sunny winter’s day

the moon took its position

where it would never stay

Pale in comparison

to a stratocumulus cloud

with a rainbow within it

that it carries proud

Then shone a jealous sun

who stole most part of the day

and put the moon on its back burner

blinding it by a ray

Now the moon was going through

a terrible phase

in the left corner of the sky

amongst a twilight haze

Bright in a summer sky

caught in a meteor shower

still the moon doesn’t pass through

this phase of its final hour

It still shows its face in spite

but the sun gets the last laugh

it still manages to smile

no one sees the other half

All those astronauts

did not see their doom

there’s no place left to land

sealed inside their tomb

Any lunar flights

will have to be real soon

when it’s out of sight

will be the last night of the moon