The Moon, Again
by Mary Cresswell
If the moon is an old comet, what has she done with her chevelure, or hair?
[1854 Tomlinson, Arago's Astron. 135] [quoted in Oxford English Dictionary online]
Old star, old star
what have you done
with your hair?
How does your look
move from this week
to next week
changing hairdos
like names
but staying the same?
At noon do you
stop to pick
tonight's favourite
keeping it hidden
until the last
minute?
Or does it
sneak up on you
brightly disguised
gelled until
darkness forces it
out of you?
—same old
same old
every night new.
Copyright © 2009, Mary Cresswell
Image Credit: c.fuentes2007, some rights reserved
Mary Cresswell is a science editor and proofreader; she is from Los Angeles and has spent half her life in New Zealand. She's published poetry in journals in Australia, Canada, NZ, and the US, and lives by the sea just north of Wellington.