As a jew, and a hebrew,
I adhere to the lunar calendar.
My days are written by the moon.
I do not dance to her at nights,
nor do I worship her:
I'd feel foolish to make an offering of blood
to a satellite.
But as I watch, day by day,
The Tide stroking my home greedily
with sea-fingers, cold and patient,
I know that she commands this greed;
As I watch
women walking the streets
I know she counts their days of pregnancy;
And when I see you, lovelier than ever,
standing at the window to re-discover night
It's she that paints you ghostly, and desirable,
making each curve of you
seem even more beyond grasp..;
I've heard people say that when we die
our damned souls go to the moon.
I am very much alive
and the moon is my mistress.