I realized 

Halfway to late last night
That it has been a year 

Since you became the moon 

I left your room as ancient Rome 

Praising something I could not understand
Because you cast light 

And I could not understand 
I gave you names like 
Goddess 

But all civilizations collapse
Even great ones 

Often perhaps 

Because they are great ones 

And though I once thought it impossible

I have forgotten prayers 
I once could trace in the dark
Like freckles on your back 

There we times 

We only loved each other in darkness
And your moon shine
Could only fight the sun for so long 

For four months 

I would only ever and always collapse next you 

When you were already asleep 

And wake up
When you were already gone
So the sun rise
Stopped spelling beauty
And started forcing goodbye
Through defiantly sealed shut windows
We barricaded ourselves against
But making myself in to steel
Had turned me cold
I am no longer ancient Rome 

But like so many decades of peeling paint
You have left in me

Whole aqueducts 
that I longer know how to fill 

Coliseums 

Only remind me of you 

You lioness
You soldier

With more layers of armor around you
And sharp teeth 

That still did not stop you 

From biting into my shoulder
And crying 

Uncontrollably
There were nights I was terrified of you
Your brightness
Could be blinding
Your shrine 

A monument now to “I’m sorry” 

And heaps of letters I never finished 

Is like marble columns
Collapsed and dissolved
And still drawing my breath 

Despite the decades between us
I still find ways to pray 

I thought you were eclipsed
But the truth is 

You were never the moon
You have become and have always been
One constellation 

Brighter sometimes than any 

Bringing beauty even in darkness 

And yes, sometimes only in darkness
Dotting the sky 

Like freckles I could still trace on your back
Your light 

Coming towards me from millions of years ago 

Is still visible on nights 

When it’s late enough
And the streets are as empty 

As ruins