Rooftop

We spent the night in Merzouga last night. Merzouga is a remote town in the Sahara (close to the Algerian border). The heat and dryness there is like nothing I've experienced before. Last night, unable to sleep, I went up to the roof. There are no photos to do justice to the beauty of that night, so I wrote a poem (a first for me) about it.

A steady hot breeze spread a thousand brief kisses

across exposed skin.

The earth parted her clouds to reveal a full moon

too bright for fragile night eyes.

Shy stars shrunk back

embarrassed by their inadequacies.

And night pulled away his dark blanket.

The moon stood proud and bright

bragging to his mother earth.

As he drew closer to her,

the heat of his body calmed the wind.

He was grateful for the life she gave him.

He remembered when they were one-

before his birth

And shuttered at the memory of the impact that eternally separated them.

The moon paused in the sky

and yearned to be close to her

And back inside of her

Back home

...but then continued on his inevitable journey.