Trillions of stars
and not a single one visible
from this vantage.
The farther one travels,
the more remote the locale,
the more those grains
of light
shine through
that mauve velvet.
When the moon appears
she shines brighter than all else.
Pale, incandescent,
monochromatic, yet
with a vibrancy
that burns a silent flame.
Her movements through
the firmament shepherd
those tiny flecks of light
--if the moon appears.
And only on the rarest of occasions
--When shadows are cast
over so great an expanse--
is her radiance fully obscured;
Extinguished in the umbral void
beyond terra firma, beyond
During these minutes,
when all that exists is
the panoply of minute
droplets of light,
is when their assured fulgor
seems but a cheap imitation--
a vulgar copy--not meant
for even the lowliest of
sinners.
