It's Me Against the Moon Again

The human body

contains something like

78 percent water.

My son asks me

about the importance of the moon and

I explain the way tides work

Gravity pulling at the Earth;

Mountains holding on;

Humanity holding strong, but

water giving way,

pushed and pulled

between Sun and Moon;

between Earth and Stars.

He asks what else is important about it

and I think of the moon,

the way it pushes me

and pulls me

because I'm made up

of something like

78 percent water

so I must have an inner-tide

that urges all those

particles left over

from exploding nebulae

and neutron stars

to scatter every which way

and return home

like salmon do

when it's time to die

but instead, I think a little further

and tell him we might need it

to find our way home

should something happen to all of our

street lights, and cars and flashlight batteries.

I tell him it's important

because it makes people,

both children and adults,

look up and ask questions

just like he's doing now.

Just like I do every night.