She is the new moon--
but in her soft darkness
you see vice.

She is poised for waxing--
but sliver by sliver
silver overtakes her night.

Right there in sight
slowly circling
she bares her self.

Why are you blinded
by quarter shadows
as she rises to fullness?

From the abyss
of your court
see the shining in her wane.

"…inside is a creature
it's distant and dark…
inside is a heart."

Last verse from Lau-tzu's Taoteching, verse 21

08/22/2004

Author's Note: I hope this is not too abstract. I continue--very slowly--to read the Taoteching and have not understood verse 21 as fully as I would like. So I went to a website (see below) about the phases of the moon and finally I got it. Of late, as a result of some reading and dialoging with my wife, Helen, I have had some new awareness about the nature of spirituality, namely, that it is about the transformation of the self in the big middle of the ordinary everyday messiness of life. Originally I began the poem with the word: "I" but decided that I might get some better insights if I made it about another, making myself the "you" in the poem. http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase/

Posted on 08/22/2004
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