A Letter to The Moon

Dear Gentle Moon,

Floating through a sea of unknown realms
For centuries you have stood
Ever so graceful, ever so elegant
Throughout generations your spells were cast
On earthly mortals, and on still, silent nights

Beauty envied your clear glowing disk
Poets were inspired by your rare being
Lovers cherished every wee moment
Spent under the charms of your sliver beams
Loners found solace in your comforting presence
Stars refuse to glitter without your blue warmth
And clouded midnight skies weep
When you cease to illuminate their passages

But man had a dream
As old as the time he looked upon your radiant glow
His dream was to reach you, to get to you
Was it curiosity that was driving him?
Or his everlasting love for you?
Or was it greed? I do not know

But in the end, his dream came true
And I wish it hadn’t
For with it, it bought disappointment

Oh Dear Moon!
Is it true?
That you are nothing but a big cluster of celestial rock?
Darkened by the emptiness around you?
Feeding on light you steal from the sun?
Is it true you are infested with swollen craters?
Eating away your pale surface?
Leaving holes on your perfect face?
Is it true?
That you suffer loneliness? That you’re isolated?
In a dark chilling corner of the universe?
With the idea of bringing serenity to earthlings
As your only console?

Oh! Please tell me it is not true!

Are you not made of pure heavenly lights?
Does magic not dwell in your atmosphere?
Alluring fragrances fill your air, does it not?
Diamond mountains surround your vast blue plains?
Your silver trees bare fruits of rare jewels?
Do crystal flowers not grow on your pearly soil?
Your never ending seas of mercury?
Your gleaming gemstone riverbeds?
Your lunar skies, always radiant
As rich as a dark blue velvet dress
Like that of an enchanting fairy princess?
Your sublime beauty?
Untouched, unseen by any mortal?

You are all that, are you not?

Man claims he had fulfilled his dream
He claims he reached the moon
He claims he had landed on the lunar surface
An achievement he is ever so proud of

Tell him! Prove to him it was not you he reached!
But a distant waste land
Abandoned, and left to decay with time!

-A Poem By Mariam A.