Sun / Moon
I stand on the highest point between the velodrome and the water
Right by the rings
And I watch the sun set over Hackney
I tell myself: stand here, soak it in,
Until the sunset is complete
But it’s taking kind of a long time
And my eyes are starting to hurt
So I think:
Really,
It’s just a matter of perspective
If I go down the hill,
Slowly,
I can set the sun myself.
As I walk back home I see the moon above the bluer skies of Newham,
Or it’s probably another borough behind there already
Or actually it’s nowhere at all
It’s all empty space underneath
I see the moon above, next to that high rise hotel with the bit missing
And I like this duality
The sunset
The moonrise
And really, neither has just happened.
But both are true.
Both bodies are there all the time.
And really, I think to myself,
Sun and moon are such a false binary
They aren’t at all the same category of thing
One is a bright burning star
The other just happens to be the only satellite in the orbit of our planet
Sometimes reflecting that star
But to us they signify day and night,
Darkness and light,
Or rather
Light that displaces darkness
And light that remains in the darkness
And we find meaning in that
And whether they rise or they set
They shine or they hide
Just depends on whether we see them
My sunset has happened before yours
Your moon is already up
My sun set before yours
Your moon rose before mine
And yet our bodies, sometimes celestial,
Are always there
And, really, the same.
