It’s a strange sort of orbit
the moon takes around the earth,
mesmerized by the amount of light the planet can reflect,
the way it shifts and writhes and is still
learning to be comfortable in its skin,
while the moon is only black rock,
the same trapped-oxygen rock
for three and a half billion years.
The moon must be ashamed,
because it always maneuvers
itself in such a way
that one side can’t be seen from earth
and when the sun doesn’t hit
the moon just right,
it rotates, its violet rays
can’t be seen at all.
The Earth has atmospheric clothes
that do their best to keep
its elements stable and it feels
few drops of newness on its crust,
while the moon gets to bathe
in meteor showers, a constant
sprinkling of new elements and it is molded
by each particle of dust that passes.
It’s easier to date moon rocks.