Thank you to Dea for tagging me in the picture that inspired this. Thanks also to the two dearest friends who inspired me when writing this. To LXB, thank you for urging me to "tell your tale," and giving me the confidence to do it. I haven't stopped writing since that advice. Thanks too to Mark A. Morris, who urged me to "write everything, anything, write for yourself and enjoy it all," but also to "dig deeper." I've done both and this is what has come from that. ...
Thank you to Dea for tagging me in the picture that inspired this. Thanks also to the two dearest friends who inspired me when writing this. To LXB, thank you for urging me to "tell your tale," and giving me the confidence to do it. I haven't stopped writing since that advice. Thanks too to Mark A. Morris, who urged me to "write everything, anything, write for yourself and enjoy it all," but also to "dig deeper." I've done both and this is what has come from that.
THE MOON AND SUN
The Moon rose as she had every day since she could remember. No creature who had seen her in her youth was living still. Time had not been kind to them, nor, she thought, had it been for her. Once vibrant and glowing, she now felt old, ancient, scarred and weathered. Yes, she had looked deeply into the mirror pools on the magical place she circled. Ripples may distort her visage some, but she knew, could tell. The most recent creatures on the planet had once thought her beautiful; had turned their faces up to her in supplication. Once bowed to her in reverence, had worshipped her from afar. Gifted offerings to her. But those days were long past. Some still treated her with reverence. Saw some mystical beauty that remained but with each new night, their numbers dwindled. As did her hope. Where once she saw love, adoration, now the night was a cold, dark place, a drudgery to endure until light, until the glorious Sun beamed out from his hiding spot.
And the Moon did find him magnificent. He shone with an incandescence she had never had, even newly born. Folly to stare too long at his grand and pure light but too often, she sank as he arose and could only glimpse of him. Unable to linger even had she wanted to. And so it went on, as time had ceased meaning for her, until one day, just as she was descending, the Moon began to weep. The futility, the loneliness all but driving her mad. The irony did not escape her. Many creatures had blamed her for their own lunacy. But such was her desperation, her despondency that she cared little for what had passed before. The pain was overwhelming her with its immediacy. Now! Enough! How to live even one more minute with this agony?
Even as that thought formed, she caught a quick flash from the Sun. Had he done that on purpose? A momentary distraction? She turned her gaze to him in that last second and saw his radiant smile. Directed right at her? That smile sustained her through the day, until night crept in, her time to rise again. She wondered at the why of it. What had caused the Sun to act that way? After eons, he'd chosen last night to gift her with something more. An offer of friendship? They each had a lonelier existence since those upright creatures had turned away from holding them in ultimate reverence. A commonality, a mutual respect perhaps as both were tenacious at lighting the skies. So little time to see and be seen, to share the horizon, to express whatever offer, level of friendship he might have been proposing. And so she turned to study the Sun once more as his flaming halo, his luminous crown chased away the night. Ready as her repose neared, she saw yet again a caressing grin split his glowing face.
For the first time in too long to count, the Moon felt hope flicker within her. And with each successive moonrise, it grew and grew until she was fair to bursting. Even some of the creatures that walked the magical globe beneath her seemed more enchanted of late, their eyes drawn up to her to behold her transformation back to more of her former glory. She waited, existed for those glimpses of his fair countenance. Golden and glorious and always with that beautific smile. Then came the day when she was allowed to linger come daybreak. The first such chance since he'd bestowed that flash of smile all those days ago. There he rose again, taking her breath away, beams shooting over the horizon to herald his awakening. Resplendent in his golds, oranges and reds. He opened his eyes and looked at her, his lips curving.
"Fairest Sun," she spoke, "how is it that after all this time, we've just now begun to smile at one another, to explore a fragile connection and seek a friendship? And how could one such as yourself ever bestow such kindness upon the likes of me? You are a glory in your radiance, and I pale in comparison."
"Dearest Luna, how could you not know, not have guessed? I have strode across the skies for time wrapped around time, trying in vain for any glimpse of you I could manage. Your ethereal beauty has haunted me so. Left me tongue tied and humbled by your loveliness. I need descend when tis my time but you, fairest, you can hover in my morning sky when it is afforded you. Those days are the ones I bide my time until, await breathlessly for, hold close to my heart. I would have worshipped your exquisiteness from afar, afraid to hope for more, had I not seen you weeping."
The Moon was stunned by his confession, the endearment expressed. The Sun loved her! And if she was being honest with herself, she had loved him also, for close to an eternity. They had much to say to each other, but as all time moves forward so too did this halcyon day. At length, the Sun began to climb down in the sky. The Moon began to cry, not wanting to be left alone again.
She pleaded, "Please my love, stay with me, I will happily share my night sky with you. We have so much more to say! Time to make up for. Don't leave me in the darkness, bereft of your warmth and loving light."
A gentle smile on his golden face, he replied, "My dearest Moon, do you not guess why I happily go to rest when darkness descends? I go willingly, so that you may shine your very brightest upon the world below us. So that they too may gaze at you in all your magnificence. I die a temporary death so that you may live fully." And with that he sank out of sight.
The Moon held there, drinking in all his words. She looked around her, seeing the same world below, the same stars glittering about behind her, a beautiful canvas to frame herself with. But the night was no longer a cold, empty place for her. She hugged the knowledge that she was so loved by the Sun to her heart. He would come back to her in time, and so she shone regally down upon the magical land they revolved around, knowing he was just on the other side of world. She was loved, unconditionally, and it was reciprocated.
-Tamara McLanahan
Copyright 2016 Tamara McLanahan. All rights reserved.
