Ashton Arellano poetry

For the Love of Your Light

November 19, 2024

I would live on the moon, except I think I’d miss the moonlight,   
The way you pull my oceans into restless tides,  
How you soften my edges with your moonlit touch,   
I would miss the way the light bends across distance 
To reach me, span me, light me 
 
I would be the earth beneath your light, 
The one who turns to meet you, spinning just to catch a glimpse 
The one who knows your glow but can never grasp it 
The one who knows you must stay far to remain what you are 
 
You are not mine-how could you be? 
You belong to the endless palettes of pink skies blurred into golden dusks  
To the waves that reach for you only to fall back on themselves 
To the shadows born from your presence, 
 
To love you is to understand the beauty of distance, 
To stand still while you pull me closer 
To surrender the dream of holding you close 
For the mercy of fleeting moments 
Knowing that to claim it is to break it 
 
I borrow your light just to feel near you,   
And though you’re cold, distant, and even cruel 
You warm my earth with the glow you share to me   
Adrift in this empty solar sea, 
You pull me home—my gravity 
 
   
How could I leave you,   
When is every part of me shaped by your touch?   
Tilt the axis scatter the stars  
And still I am tethered to you 
 
I’d rather stay here,   
Turning always to find you,   
Content to watch you drift just far enough   
That I can never truly reach you,   
But close enough to live in the shadows your light creates, 
 
You are my moon,   
My constant companion,   
My endless muse.   
And though I’ll never touch you,  
you light my whole sky.