the gibbous moon tints

the gibbous moon tints

 the banner of crystal clouds 

with a pink halo

The gibbous moon nestles like an ostrich egg in a circle of pink and white down. How quickly the high cirrus clouds slip away, while the much higher moon continues her slow ascent across the cobalt canopy. The Earth-born Moon, like a grown child, long ago moved away from her mother, but not too far. They remain connected by such a strong, invisible umbilical cord that the Moon never turns her face away from her mother. The clouds are also Earth-born, as is the atmosphere which they inhabit, but they hug their mother closely, afraid of the great emptiness beyond.