Moon Song

Transcription

When the moon rose it was a sliver, just a curve in the darkness. It moved above the horizon to rejoin the specks of light the people below call stars. The moon looked upon the carpet of lights. The lights have been growing brighter over the years and the cities had spread into the surrounding darkness like a burning oil slick.

That night the moon reached the sky without incident. The stars greeted their friend with pulses. With flashes. The moon began telling its stories, as it does every night, letting the wind carry her soft voice. The wind carries her soft voice across the lands below and into the thoughts of the people. They begin to yawn. They begin to yawn without knowing why, and eventually their heads come to rest on pillows and couches and shoulders. They close their eyes and succumb to another day’s end. They sleep.

The moon continues its hushed enchantments through the darkness, interrupted at times by a cloud or passing satellite. The people shift in their beds and sigh when this happens. They shift and look at their alarm clocks. Over and over. They wonder why they are awake. They look at the ceiling. It happens in the silence. In the absence. In the void. 

The moon’s stories cease when the low hum begins. The humming begins like the start of bagpipes, a side effect of the sun pushing its light, rising into the air, forcing the night to dissipate. The moon slips into the growing light, bringing the stars with her. The moon and the stars wait. Waiting in the underside for another day to pass.

Eventually the lights became too bright. The electricity too strong and unnatural to bear. The sprawl had consumed the countryside. The stars were obscured completely. The moon was only a faint ghost rising above the horizon. Difficult to see. The people still brushed their teeth. They set their alarms for the morning. They locked their doors. But they stopped yawning. They lay in their beds. They lay on their couches.

Snuggled tight in sleeping bags, in tents. They grew antsy. Some turned. Some rose and went for glasses of water. Others rose to exercise. To wear themselves out. To bring exhaustion. But no one ever slept that night. Or ever again.