The Waxing Moon was a thin book, well-worn and poorly bound, spine inexpertly repaired with tape. After school, sheltered by the stacks of the public library, the children secretly read spells from the book, never daring to borrow it. It was full of mysteries: spells that disappeared warts with knotted red string and dripping eaves; how to become invisible by placing amethyst under the tongue; stranger things involving cat bones. One day, the book was gone, and I always wondered which one of us had taken it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.
Take my hand, and we'll find our way home on this star-lit night
Coyote Grief
Sometimes the night stills, hardens, and the tight stars choke and fall to flat earth, dead embers. The sky is no longer black, dim gray.
Coyote's sadness is deeper than hope.
She snuffs at dead stars amazed, confused, wants to put them back, cannot reach that high, to the dim flat sky. They won't burn again.
This beautiful, sad poem was written by Christopher in response to my poem Without memorial. It was too lovely to remain buried in the comments, so I put it here on my windowsill, where the sunlight may fall across the words to heal Coyote's grief.