LUNAR CYCLE
The lunar cycle is twenty-eight days
Approximately
Twenty-eight days
From new moon to new moon
Standing on a deck awaiting the dawn
Where will the sun rise - a man asked
I told him that the moon’s crescent
Always points towards the sunrise
I don’t think so - he said
Yesterday’s sunrise was off
The other side of the boat
Then he crossed to the far rail
Every lunar cycle needs two weeks
Approximately
Just fourteen days
From new moon to full moon
About one week each from
Full to half (waning)
From new to half (waxing)
And one more week back to full
I watched the sun rising over
The River Nile because no matter
Where the boat is - the moon’s crescent
Always points towards the sunrise
The lunar cycle is twenty-eight days
Approximately
The lit side of the moon
Always points towards the sunrise
I sometimes wonder about that man
How he dismissed my knowledge
I imagine he runs a company earning
Several times more than me a year
People do sometimes get confused
I remember trying to demonstrate
Once why the moon looks different
Because of relative positions of objects
The lunar cycle is thirteen years
Approximately
In that time it will cover the entire sky
Never being in the same place twice
I put a torch on a cupboard
In a darkened room and by orbiting
A tennis ball around their head
Showed them the phases of the moon
For that to work properly
You have to simply imagine
That your head is the earth
Your head representing the entire world
The lunar cycle is twenty-eight days
Approximately
Twenty-eight days
From full moon to full moon
MAWH, February 2018
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