In the Glow of Moonlight

You were like a sun in my sky;
big and bright and brilliant
as I orbited around you.

Your radiant love enveloped me
like a blanket of warm sunshine
on an otherwise cloudy day.

We lived and laughed and loved
as that clichéd saying goes;
when the world still made sense. 

But then it all suddenly disappeared;
like a sun sucked into a black hole,
extinguishing your brilliant light.

It feels cold here in the darkness;
a chill so pervasive, it rattles my bones
and burrows deep in my soul.

Noisy, jumbled thoughts and echoes
of screams and sirens and panic;
continually pleading, “What if…?”

I wouldn’t call this ‘living’ any more;
merely existing while waiting to die
for years after your death.

Yet there are too many signs from you
I can no longer ignore or write off
as merely coincidence.

It’s as if each one whispers in my ear,
“I’m here, Mama, I’ll always be with you;
just look for the moon instead.”

So each night I search for your light,
some days your moonlight fills the sky;
sometimes there’s only a sliver. 

No matter the moon’s phase, I know
it’s illuminated by your brilliant light
that once filled my sky.

I’ll always long for the sunlight I lost,
but I’m learning to live, laugh, and love
in the glow of moonlight.