The Way the Moon Bends

I watch the way the moon bends

stretches around the earth

shining in darkness with its tinged edges

My life is stained with you

You leave your mark in every one of my edges

I will not be trapped in time

This never-ending loop

Like a plague, you come sweeping through me

I push against my skin, replay the conversation, smoke

when I don’t want to because

you tell me to

But I can also tap my finger to the rhythm of a song

Sit beside a fire and smell the taste of calmness

Rest

I will not trace the moon through the night

Awake with a clicking response to its pace

It’s a metronome tune I float to

to sleep

as deep as a river

Sliding through the moon's glow

I wake up in the morning

Coffee thick with the stain of hope

Time is moving and my friend

sits across from me at a coffee shop

Tells me about her week

I listen and my thoughts are quiet

For a moment, I can forget the way the moon bends

the way I hold my breath for it to circle back around