The Birth of the Moon Hare

I’ve watched the eons come and go
And am older than I seem.
My stories I have a plenty,
This one could be but a dream.

It was a night to toss and turn,
For my sleep was far from reach.
The only sound that could be heard
Was the calling of the beach.

So I did rise from where I lay,
Drawn across the marsh and moor.
Then up and down I trod the dunes
’Til I stood beside the shore.

I listened to the lapping waves
With my sandals in my hand.
I felt the breeze upon my skin,
Pushed my toes into the sand.

The night was warm and full of stars
As I sat upon the dune.
They danced above like little sparks
In the sky bereft of moon.

I thought of lovers come and gone,
Of the times when I was young,
Of places traveled near and far
As I waited for the sun.

I pondered hopes that made me smile;
For regrets I shed a tear.
Yet, it has been a life well-lived,
So in time, my eyes did clear.

I gazed upon the sweep of sea.
Though far off and hard to tell,
Something did sail towards the shore -
It appeared both wave and shell.

Borne within this arching bower,
Lithe of form and bare of breast,
With lengthy ear and gentle smile,
Lay a hare upon her nest.

In her hand she held a jewel,
Its form curved and silver hewn.
Within it shone an icy fire
As I glimpsed the sliver moon.

She set the moon among the stars,
Shining ever more divine.
But when my gaze returned to earth
Of the hare there was no sign.

And yet the shell she’d lain upon
At the water’s edge I found.
Though it was smaller than before,
Still it held the ocean’s sound.

Oft I think of that special eve
And how the hare cast her spells.
Though I have yet to see her twice,
In my dreams she sweetly dwells.

Yet sometimes on a peaceful eve,
Somewhere in the moon’s soft glow.
I think I see her shining face
Smile upon me here below.

Though I have sat upon that shore
For many a night on end,
Yet such a sight to thrill my heart
I may never see again.

I thought to keep her treasured shell
But who’d think my story true?
So in the end I left it there
By the shore, it waits for you.

- CP, KP