Moonlight - One Deep Breath

Moonlight shines down,
glazing the lake with diamonds.
Night birds call.

The moon so big
children reach up to take it,
trying to play catch.

Breath glows white
Watchers stamp their feet
Crescent moon sails on.

Whistle blows sadly
Under a winter moon,
the midnight express.

A ghost in the sky,
Opal eyed visitor,
The moon peeks at day.

Beloved,
whisper to me again
by moonlight.

Crescent moon,
a perfect moment is here
to see your valleys.

How did this happen?
Just a cup of tea, outside,
went to take a sip.
How did this get here?
The moon hid in my cup!

*sigh...*

Last night at the Japanese cultural center was wonderful. My husband and I went to hear a lecture on the Selene/Kaguya project to study the moon. We got to see some of the first high definition digital images from that project - 3-D images of the moon's surface, and a totally breathtaking Earth rise over the moon.

While we were there, I took the opportunity to visit the current exhibit of Japanese pottery, which is truly beautiful. The forms and the glaze work were all just gorgeous, and I was glad I'd gotten a couple minutes to enjoy them. I also got to meet a couple of people and had an interesting discussion as we all drifted out into the evening, where folks broke up and headed wherever they were going.

My husband and I, along with one of his coworkers, headed for a nearby Korean restaurant that also carried some Japanese specialties, and proceeded to continue the discussion over agedashi and sushi. (And yes, I admit that mine was vegetarian. Call me a wuss, but I really do love inari and umemaki.) And finished off with a lovely Korean ginger and cinnamon drink "to aid digestion" our waitress assured us, before we headed off toward the Metro station.

Less than a block from the station, the fly in our ointment appeared, in the form of some young idiots in a red sports car who turned into the lane we were crossing (still missing us by a fair margin) who decided to shout a Jew-hating threat at us before speeding off. As you might imagine, this was upsetting. All I can pray is that perhaps one of the people in the car will be so embarrassed this morning that it will cause him to consider how he ended up like this and begin to turn around. Sadly, I don't count on it, and can only be thankful that I was spared the violence visited on a friend of mine last year, who had first insults hurled at him from a car, before someone decided to get out of the car and escalate.

And the struggle goes on.