Blessed Night

Posted on May 6, 2012

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Last night the moon rose large and luminous over the pine trees behind the neighbor’s house. Always beautiful, whether showing a sliver of bare shoulder above a gown of star speckled black or staring down at us, full-figured and lovely, proudly flaunting the rich curving body of night.

Body of night

moon slips

silent

through

star-strewn sky

white nights

connect the dots

an immense

heaven wide picture

seen in dream filled

slumber

heard in the whisper

of mother’s

goodnight kiss

felt in

smooth hands

pushing back

sleep tousled locks

the first blessing counted,

held dear

As we went back inside, we paused to admire the night sky, noting the stars more bashful than usual, hiding in the glow of their sister moon. I looked for Orion, but he was gone. But then, I thought I saw…

“The Big Dipper!” I cried, pointing almost straight up over the house. “I haven’t seen that since I don’t know when.” We looked for the Little Dipper, but it was lost to us behind the green curtain of the trees that edge the yard.

A beautiful moon and a glimpse of one of the constellation that defined my childhood, two signs of Allaah in the night sky of May. I went to bed thankful for this double gift.

Late night. The house sleeps. It begins as a slight moaning, an old man, his bones creaking as he lifts himself up out of his chair.

Then a sigh- a sursurring- an exhalation of sea and sky, fluttering leaves, swaying trees. I struggle to open the window, suddenly anxious to feel the night. A push, and it is up.

The wind is not alone. The sound of thousands of tiny feet pattering overhead. The rain falls, millions of tiny drops, a mercy to everything it touches.

A mercy to me, sister to moon and rain. A comfort, and an affirmation.

A night of blessings from the Lord of the Worlds.