moon landing

“stargazing is stupid”
but here we are anyways.

she holds my hand out of habit, and leads me through the night.
a twist, three turns, take a left, find the opening in the wall,
up the marble staircase (take the elevator on a lazy day),
six hops and we’re onto the moon.

we reach up with our little picks and start to chip away at the sky,
black stone falling apart and giving way to the light underneath.
she tires before me every time, so tonight i give her the electric drill
and together, we create the stars.

when we’re done, we dangle our feet over the edge,
our fingernails caked with moon dust, backs stooped from the work.
i forget to wear my glasses and all i can see are blobs of static light
but i’m certain the new stars are beautiful (after all, she shaped them)

she laughs when i finally mention the blurriness to her,
and we opt instead to face each other, heads against the pillowy craters.
we’re close enough for me to be able to memorize how the moonlight falls on her face,
but no, (stuff away the curiosity), look away, down at the moon’s surface.

we stay unmoving for two hours, till the timer goes off,
and we help each other down the stairs, yawning about the night.
she skips over the last step and laughs and then we’re back on the Earth.
she turns to face me, the sweetest smile gracing her face, and asks

“same time tomorrow?”
i suppress my smile.

“absolutely.”