Accept the Moon

air pushing passed wind from the Hasidims’ undulating 
chants rising with the reddened sky’s lament
        grieving the loss of her sun
breath thick with prayer, enters, pulling hope from our bellies
        painting day’s luminous descension 
sandpaper-rain streaks down our cheeks
us
daring to dream of
        sky without walls
        days without end
        our lovers catching up to the sun
searching for lunary texts bringing freedom from the moon’s reign 
we
sun-chasers
running...away...
from others’ eyes 
journeys rooted far ago
        in rounded starlight, astral reflections 
               bleaching our tears’ view
with bone needles we became the last knots
        in threaded canvas, holding our families together, Tatreez
our legacy
        sand slipping through rain, an empyreal eclipse 
        the smell of dough rising over firelit tabuns 
        darkness breaking open, grieving the sum of light
               a mathematical equation of survival vs. joy, star vs. sun the difference between giving up and giving out
        between truly living 
               ...or not
the red-filled poppies close echoes in the moontide
on its way to us, silent in the constellations’ ascension 
my soul remembers your eyes staring
us
hidden in the shadows
with tabbouleh and bread alone
we
runners in a growing expanse of night
watching our shadows disappear
        with hope in our bellies 
learning
        to accept
               the moon...