These February evenings, our invisible daytime Moon,
lost in the Sun’s glare, has moved
east of the setting sun, a crescent
briefly seen in the west after sundown.
Earthshine is softly lighting the dark side.
around the world, a common sight shared –
the last quarter Moon and nearby Virgo’s
bright first-magnitude star, Spica – half-illuminated in sunlight,
half in moonshadow, lit side always pointing
eastward, looking, as we do, for sunrise.
I play Satie softly not to awaken
her upstairs. I’m not much of a
musician, more a phonometrician, measuring and writing
down sounds as the Moon approaches fullness,
far from Paris, breathing in 3/4 time.
She says “I follow a lunar month.
You follow a solar month. Too bad.”
Out of sync. Orbiting around each other.
Your waxing, waning and my rising, setting.
Throwing you in shadow today. New Moon.
Today starts the longest lunar month of the 21st century. Read more