Longing, they say, because desires are full of endless distances

Chasing Tails

I always wonder if the Sun realizes

that the moon has been chasing her

this entire time,

that he watches while she peeks

her groggy head over the horizon,

flyaway rays pulsating from her corona

and blinding eastward passersby.

He hides in her light as she brushes her teeth

and lays out to tan around noon,

and he bristles with jealousy as she talks

to the constellations she’s sitting next to

this month. He sulks because of all the years

she’s known him, turned her brilliant face

towards him and smiled,

she’s never said hello.

He follows her like a child follows a bride’s train,

sometimes so close

he could lift the hair off her neck

and press his lips against it,

but she always turns away.

He really should just give up,

everyone whispers as they watch

him brush dust off his surface

and turn his smoothest side towards her,

find someone more in his league

I hear Europa’s single—

but he ignores them

and straightens his tie (it’s always a little bit

crooked but then again, he always rises a little bit

sideways), hoping that today will be the one

where she will finally press

her warm body against his

and make him feel tectonic again.