Becoming the Moon

Have you ever fled the safety of your house, in search of coolness, of stillness in the night? Have you desired freedom from the suffocating warmth of house lights? Or felt yourself a stranger in the midst of kith and kin?

If you have, then you have slipped from your room at some unholy hour, braving the creaky staircase and tiptoeing for the front door. With an ache in your heart and another in your temples, you must have gently shut that door behind you and looked into the darkness that caresses your cheeks. Your pulse has calmed before, in this strange new land. In this new land of velvety skies all stained with soot, the pavement glows faintly with heat saved from the late Spring sun. The air is heavy with the scent of flowers and grass and the breathing of slumbering souls. 

Perhaps you took a walk, when you shouldn't be out. All alone, finding in each footstep, a measure of space and glory you couldn't find before. Some strange and sweet tightness in the calves as you walked up the hill reminded you deliciously of your mortality and in such moments, you couldn't regret your humanity. After all, it is Man who can marvel at the beauty of his sweat, the purity in blood, the value of sorrow. Man, Woman, Child, Dog, Crone, King, Queen. Under the reign of heaven, there can be no distinction. 

As the crickets sounded, and the wind whispered, you have learned for an instant, what peace is. It's the happiness just out of reach, the hope that cannot die, the Night stillness you always forget in the morning. In a few meager moments, you come to understand the divinity within yourself. Anger, Frustration, Loss, Fear, Loneliness. For whatever ails you, the night supplies a cure that will last until dawning. When the birds sing to welcome the Sun King, the poison in your veins swirl anew.