Remembering Henry David Thoreau's The Moon Poem by john tiong chunghoo

she signs herself in
and out of the sky
a vast domain she
has with her kins

the stars and the one
who surreptitiously
showers on her his glory

to keep the key to
her throne a secret
she takes a new signature
each day to her coveted seat

from a round lamp
to a bright sharpened sickle
to harvest the fields

so punctual is she
with her presence
she has been akin
to a heavenly calender

through her signature
the ancients learnt the
cycle of things

lunar lunar calender
to remember
the start of war
the end of war
the union, the parting,
the reunion
the conception
the new born,
the death anniversary

a story, sad or happy,
to sign in every new moon
into our life

by john tiong chunghoo
inspired by Thoreau's
-

The full-orbed moon with unchanged ray
Mounts up the eastern sky,
Not doomed to these short nights for aye,
But shining steadily.

She does not wane, but my fortune,
Which her rays do not bless,
My wayward path declineth soon,
But she shines not the less.

And if she faintly glimmers here,
And paled is her light,
Yet alway in her proper sphere
She's mistress of the night.

Henry David Thoreau