Mandarin Moon

[posted for the Poetry Pantry at Poets United]

I awake in the deep dark
of the night
to see
a huge round
full-faced moon
staring in
at me
as if it had zoomed close
with my eyes closed,
I catching it
unawares
before it rose.


There she sat,
perched in the bowl
of my old tree,
like an over-sized
Christmas ornament
thus adorning
just for me
the starkly bare
and brittle branches and,
much more,
allowing me to see
its beauty
closer
than I ever have
before.


I stare back:
eternal purveyor
of myth and mystery,
as if it holds the secret
of whatever is to be
and has ventured thus
to urge me forth
from out
my purple bed,
to find a path
where all my
broken dreams
can be
much better fed.


This radiant
so-close moon
and I agree:
surrender to no man,
and yet,
in giving
I'm most free.
This silvery ambassador
is urging me
to find a way
to give
all that I can -
Mandarin Midnight Moon
that sailed here
last night
from Japan.