As the Moon rises in the east
barely showing its face above the horizon
the Penumbral Eclipse takes form
heralding the full weight of the time
a new Shadow was about to be cast over me.
Dark has cloaked my deeds up until now.
The Blood Moon enchants with its splendour
and ultimately the reflected light from the Sun
is embraced by illuminated corners of my heart—
subdued, as it reflects tentative forgiveness
rewarding me for changing my ways.
I’m set in my ways.
I yearn for unconditional forgiveness
of the ingrained dark corners of my heart—
reflecting my own perception of me.
A Blood Moon stirs fear in the heart
as my darkly disturbing thoughts reveal secrets.
Old shadows are difficult to cast off—
taunted by the recall of lighthearted times.
When the Penumbral Eclipse faded
remorse latched onto the dark side
of the moon on its arc to set in the west.
The moon would be a dull, gray rock without the Sun's light.
An opinion would be a thought without one's voice.
A man would be useless without a purpose.
So, all the men that stand before me are nothing,
as they brandish their swords;
squeezing the hilt like my throat,
constricting the words from it before they're even spoken.
My men were tethered to Earth,
they tortured themselves daily for fleeting escape.
My luminous glow was their temptation, their envy.
As I was the moon;
a quiet beauty that spoke volumes.
My men chip away at my craters, their shadow swallowing the Sun's last rays.
I am now a rock;
Stoic, rigid.
Ruthless. Ruinous.
The light drained from my now-hollowed features.
A merciless wreckage pounded into rock, hollowed from its light.
This April night, the jasmines sigh
a gentle, fragrant breath
like fallen stars, they watch the sky
envious of death
Tethered, earthbound, by their vines
how cruel, these crafty ropes
yet still they fail now to confine
the faintest of all hopes
When upon the stroke of midnight
the moon became as blood
vermillion shadows snuff the light
now outshone by a bud
A single, white, celestial bloom
with dew each petal drips
gazes at the scarlet moon
so woefully eclipsed
While stars can live for eons
star jasmines live one moon
both own the night like neon
though one is gone too soon
A blood moon, even rarer still
envies every star
a prophecy too soon fulfilled
yet leaves no lasting scar
When the last jasmine flourishes
for me, sad joy it brings
while ruby moonlight nourishes
and silver starlets sing
And how it wishes, how it yearns
to escape this earthly sphere
and twinkle down each lyric learned
to this observer here.
*written during the “blood moon” eclipse
that took place on April 14th, 2014
he foresees the sun’s eclipse ~ not the eclipse of Sophia’s white light
Date: 01/06/2023
Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 24 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Mark Toney
Blood moon cloaks the night
chilled winds, petrified terror
earth casts its shadow
A lunar eclipse,
beauty adorns the dark sky
with short lived make up.
Lunar Eclipse Friday November 19, 2021
early morning prize
in earth’s shadow, moon will shine
like a red apple
Heidi Sands
11/18/21
Loud passion dampened
Lovers lay in the debris
Drifted apart in mutual hush,
Silence screams, as once before
Fragile skin burning in the light
Intimacy, shriveling in face of beautiful women
The lunas no longer love
Wings shriveled and crawling to the shadows
Longest lunar eclipse
Blood moon outstrips
It was a magical night
The sky was lit
By the glory of Luna
The full moon
Pondering this majestic night sky
I witnessed
The total lunar eclipse
The nature's grandest spectacle
The hypnotizing beauty in action
The dazzling scene
Of the blushing bride
Luna covering herself
With the charming reddish orange veil
The spectacular alignment
Of Sun, Earth and Luna in syzygy
Breathtaking sight to behold
There was this man overtly obsessed
Thought the mystique moon he possessed
A poet, on the wings of muse he flew
Riding the moonbeams of his own he knew.
So in the dark night of the lunar eclipse
When the masked moon went out of his grips
He became so sad that in dismal dismay
Threw all his moon starved poems far away.
But as the full silver disc appeared once again
He melted in the moonlight his agony and pain
With the moondust he made his image poetic
People said the moonstruck man is a lunatic.
June 12, 2018
For Brian Strand's Contest All Yours (Mar 24)
Raven Blue twilight,
Existence epitomized,
Formless shadows lurk.
8~June~2017
Dear Luna, soft ... wan,
What travesty stokes your ire?
Waxing red with rage ...
Perhaps it's passion ...
Does your face, so long adored,
Now blush for love's sake?
we are moving
beyond awareness
deep thrusts
centered in the self
activating nebulae
we are beyond
what we think
we are
accept your feelings
express your desires
displaced organs
ecstatic moanings
lunar eclipse
Related Poems