Dear Moon

The following poem originally appeared in the 2011 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar and has been reprinted with permission from the author.

Dear Moon
I saw you only twice last month – once full
on a Beijing morning when the smog let up
and once in your crescent form on the Yangtze
after a rare sunny day with clear skies.

Driving home on the Door peninsula
with you above, displaying your fullness
without reserve, only clean air between us,
I celebrate our good fortune in living
here in the north where the earth’s horizon
is still visible by day and the stars
still serve as guides and limits for human life.

And as you journey west through the night,
I watch with pleasure as the clouds fan across
your beautiful face, replacing masks
of Beijing opera with a natural glow.

After a long teaching career in the UW System at Green Bay and Oshkosh, Estella Lauter has turned to poetry to make sense of things. She retired to Door County from Appleton in 2004 and has published two chapbooks with Finishing Line Press. She is grateful for the lively community of poets here!