Setting Moon, with Constellations, One Night Before Its First Quarter, Late December
When the moon sinks low in the western sky
I pour a day’s memories into its gold cup
as the old rules state. Evening is cooling off
but mild, as if between myself and
the stars there is an owl flying away while at the same
time a distant unknown bird is approaching.
When they pass each other I am finding the key
in my pocket and feeling blindly for the lock.
When the cup is locked in the cupboard
of the past for another day, in the quiet house
I take out the moments I withheld from the moon
and place them in the dark above me: your hand
on my arm, your head against my shoulder.
The phone ringing. The living warmth of you
like a foreign language I can suddenly read
as words pour into the room and we listen.
Translations from the English 
Any woman would be so thrilled to know this was written for her. My wife’s Christmas presents included a poem I wrote for her, but I’m no Jeff Schwaner! Thank you for showing us how “it” should be done! Just a marvelous work of poetic art!
Ron
Thank you, Ron.
Lovely
Thanks–
Painfully, healingly beautiful, Jeff.
Lovely. Every word means; nothing extraneous, nothing left out.
Thank you, Jean.