rising late
the moon wanes gibbous
outdoing itself tonight

pretending to be full on the inside
it glows burnt umber round the edges

deflated, ghostly soft
eerily misshapen

the sky around it misty
like the air surrounding streetlights
on a summer evening

it shines on us who were here before
it shines on us coming later

it looks down on us now
as though it had some kind of authority