The Moon Doesn’t Speak and The Stars Are Dead [1]
By Jordyn Taylor
The moon doesn’t speak to me like it used to,
Stars silent specks of solitude in the sky,
Rather than wondrous beings that guide me
Home. I used to wish on shooting stars,
Until I realized I was too late because the stars
Were dead. A million years ago I’d be granted my
Wish but now I’m wishing on dead souls. Flashes
Of glitter turn to dust. Ashes. What are you leaving
Behind? A galaxy. Why do you fall? To get away
From the living, to a new beginning. On Earth the moon
Doesn’t speak to you, covered instead by the commotion
Of life, replaced by the rays of the sun. Bright.
But sometimes voices sneak through. And other times hidden,
And wonders become dust. I know a few of the dead.
a loss of laughter
and when we lost your laugh, the rain
poured as if the sun had passed too.
gray clouds, impending doom. I’m lost without
your love, mourning the loss of you.
don’t cry for the pain, cry only
for the memories, they say,
but who’s to say I don’t cry for both?
a box of ashes stained with
tears, no funeral for the living.
six feet under lies the grief within me
instead of you. shovel soot instead of dirt.
a laugh as light as yours deserves to be
engulfed by the sun, not shoved down below the
surface. shed your colors down on me again. please,
when we meet again, kiss both cheeks
in celebration of life, love, light,
up the room, scream from the heavens,
echo off the balcony and through the gates.
are you watching? guardian angel? do angels
really make rainbows? make mine a double.
and when we think of you, sunlight shines through
the window and everything is silent. I hear laughter
ringing in my ears, a constant sound, never forget,
no. nobody forgets what sunlight looks like,
even after it’s disappeared for a while, and
soon we’ll meet again in the rays of you.
[1] (Inspired by, and including, the line: “and wonders become dust. I know a few of the dead” from American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes)
BIO
Jordyn Taylor
(she/her) is an emerging writer from Bangor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from
Susquehanna University with degrees in Creative Writing and Publishing and
Editing, and a Professional and Civic Writing minor. She is a lover of
thrillers, poetry slams, her three dogs, and anything out of the ordinary.