I mentioned to my ‘next sister’ that I was becoming like our ‘ little sister’ and drinking tea while talking to the moon.
Always a ‘poor sleeper’ little sister Patsy was renowned for her middle of the night tea breaks . . . This poem came back by return mail.
(not written by her – something she’d found during middle of the night browsing. She too has become a tea drinking moon chatting person 😊).
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I met the moon for coffee
It was Friday night I think
When she watched me hardly sleeping
And invited me for drinks
We found ourselves a table
In the middle of the night
And the constellations twinkled
Like a thousand fairy lights
She asked me how I’d been
As she poured coffee from a pot
For she said she’d watched me
Waking up at midnight quite a lot
I said my brain was far too full
My mind was always on
And when I woke it felt as if
I was the only one
The only one who lay awake
Whilst I sat on my bed
With thoughts that raced at lightning speed
Around my busy head
The only one who watched the clock
Tick one and two and three
Who laid awake and worried
Whilst the world was fast asleep
My thoughts were stuck in orbit
And I couldn’t pull them back
As they preferred to swim against
A sky so vast and black
The moon said simply nothing
But she opened up a book
And I saw it was a diary
So I took a closer look
And listed there were names of people
All around the world
And all the thoughts and worries
That the moon had overheard
Just then, my eyes were drawn towards
The name that was my own
And that was when the moon said
“See, you shouldn’t feel alone”
And then she pulled me close
Using the night sky as a blanket
And said “I know you sometimes feel
So lonely on this planet
But when you cannot sleep,
Get up and watch me from your room
And you’ll see so many others
Having coffee with the moon”
Becky Hemsley 2022
Artwork: Natalia Maroz
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Still Waters 