The Moon Looms Large

Walking round
and round the
asphalt cancer
path that is the
relay for life
circle – in the
nighttime –
the moon looms
large and I walk
beside two brothers
and we are definitely
not in the spirit of the
thing as we ponder
whether we would
or would not – not
is our answer – fly
to Mars without a
return ticket – the
luminary bags with
written remembrances
our backdrop to the
pondering of the things
that a night sky covered
in moonlight brings out

I feel no guilt – no sadness
either – even as I note in
the passing the names I
have planted there –
Mom still here 20+ years
after her own battle, Dad
and Bonnie and Stu gone –
I do not carry them like
luggage – they are not heavy
in my heart – rather they are
the whispers that accompany
a life, any life – of those who
came and went as I will too –
one half of my own journey
done – and their whispers speak
of things like trips to Mars and
wonder at a moon looming large