Can you draw a straight line with a curve?
Impossible you say— but nature does it
every month when there is a half-moon—
straight edge from curvature of sun and earth.

Let the crescent moon shine like a bow
turning into a ship then a giant pearl
when full— no wonder artists and poets
love to pay homage to this night drama

waxing wistfully— Moonlight Sonata,
Song to the Moon, Claire de Lune, Moon River.
Timing is crucial— farmers sow seeds
at the New Moon for better growth.

Moon in the dewdrop— Cyrano's flight
to that fullness bigger than the ocean—
Blue Moon, Snow Moon, Blood Moon,
shining in splendor— Queen of the Night.

"Do you believe that a rock could float in air?"
I asked a friend. She said "Definitely not!"
Then I pointed to the Full Moon, that rock
suspended in the sky to rest my case.

New Moon's procession to fullness from
darkness to light mirrors the student's
progress from ignorance to knowledge.
So look upon the Moon as our guru—

its firmness like our body made from dust
of the earth, but the moon's levitation
reflects its and our lightness of being—
the lesson that Beatrice taught Dante

that his true home is not here on earth but
in the stars. Believing is seeing! Only then
did he soar beyond the spheres to Paradise.
Remember the Moon— it can make us fly.


              — Peter Y. Chou
                   Mountain View, 12-17-2008