Venus and the Moon

Marino Rocks

Midwinter night we share a glass of wine
Atop these seaside cliffs
Gazing out beyond the sea’s black hole.
Dark cloud clears. The new moon’s shine
A sharpened pair of horns. Perhaps a bowl.
Beside it Venus in orbit shifts,

Rising as the moon begins to set
Each reflected off the sea.
Pixellated lines of double white reach out
Like a school of silver fish darts from the net.
Twin searchlights flaring, feeling for the beach,
Mesmerize, head straight for you and me.

(first published in the May edition of Red River Review (US)