Lunar Pareidolia

Big Nutbrown Hare told Little Nutbrown Hare
“I love you right up to the moon—and back”
As if his love were a boomerang
slung by the gravitational force of Earth’s satellite
And hurled back through the atmosphere into the heart

What does love look like in a vacuum?
Would it collect stardust on its coattails?
Stretch like spaghetti into the void?
Is love wont to return on its own
or does it need to be trained to come when it’s called?

This is an enigma for our time
Watched over by the Man in Moon
Transmuted into a fox, a tree, a toad,
a witch carrying sticks, a buffalo, a dragon,
or from the Far East and Aztec lore: a rabbit in the moon

The lunar hare makes the elixir of life,
From the apogee to perigee—the oblong dance
Moderating the wobble of our Mother’s axis
The highs of spring to the lows of neap
Invisible signs of love from moon to Earth—and back