Use

Use

"...as much use
as a second moon...."

– Penelope Shuttle

In the beginning, we were made glad
by the new luminosity,
by fewer oppressive nights.

If a cloud degraded one,
we could turn to the other.

Out for a late night walk,
we had one both coming and going,
and if the first was a sliver,
the other approached fullness.

We did not question at first
why it should be this way,
how the sky could be so altered.

All too soon, of course,
we had to deal with the tides.