Moonlit lessons
A vow to beauty that dies before the dawn
Author’s Note:
Moonlit Lessons is a poem about the quiet war we wage within ourselves. It follows my present self caught between the ghosts of who I used to be and the shimmering outline of who I hope to become. Both past and future demand loyalty, but only one can survive. In this poem, I explore what it means to stand in that crossroads—forced to choose which version of myself must be released so another can finally breathe.
Moonlit Lessons:
The flicker of wonder beneath the onyx-struck sky ignites the gasoline in my veins
and carries me toward the stars—
a vision so dizzying I can never stand again.
So I sway, and lean, and yield to all that life lays before me.
I mold myself to hardship, lest I crack my fragile form—
to protect her, the one who still holds potential,
who still has time,
who must remain whole.
I made a sacrifice tonight:
the person I could become, given up for the person I used to be.
I am the middleman of all my potential—both wasted and ripening.
I nurture the dead because it loved me first,
and I will be loyal until my ankles break and curl beneath me,
until I can no longer turn back.
I will have spent a lifetime killing the only living thing within me
to devote my love to something that may have never existed.
Because in the flicker of the night,
I never wished to become anything permanent in the day—
I was never meant to live in the light,
only to burn beautifully before it came.
only a ghost passing through the glow,
content to be known by the dark that made me.
What do you think would be the topic of conversation if your present, past, and future self were in a room together?