And I Wave Back Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Outside the hatch
he turns slowly
and talks
but I can't make out
the words he says

they fall from his lips
dangle and float in space
outside the backyard fence
a hill grabs the moon

and then slowly
lets it go again
the moon floating just
out of reach

laughs; 'Go on...do that again! '
the hill smiles: 'Just you wait... just you wait! '
the moon beams
as a little bird

gingerly(as if at first unsure)
steps out into space
and then
finds flight
take hold of it
as if
it had only discovered it that minute
and absconds with it
the darkness
barks

and falls
into silence
and then another part
of the darkness
barks back
held
in a gentleness

a leaf tiptoes
down the breeze
as if descending
a spiral staircase

Time holds
its breath
outside
the hatch
flat on his back
the earth a little blue ball he has let go of

the astronaut
slowly turns
and waves
& I
wave back.