Lunar Eclipse

By the way, it was a celestial event

as simple as any could be when I

first saw you there perusing the coffees

on the shelf, Columbo Narino Supremeo,

Guatemala Antigua, and Arabian Mocha Sanai, the

most exotic and unpredictable.  Occultations

like this are rare when darkness

magically returns to light when

one’s past loves and hurts

are immediately and completely hidden when

the orbits of our lives come together in an instant

the past moving into shadow

At a small table by the window

I sit transfixed by your smile, mesmerized

by what you call your “droopy” eyelids.   In Starbucks

for three hours, nothing else mattered

not the carmel macchiato

or the viente iced chai

you sipped from, not past nights

spent gazing at stars with someone

else, not paths traveled before

or even the hot daddy in tight sweats

who walked by our table and

by the way, although astronomical events

like this one are rare, that

rarity alone makes them an endeavor

worth chasing, all night that night

and days later, the image of your boyish grin

still lingers and your shyness

still has my stomach in knots

and I think I’ll always

be lost, floating, somewhere

far away, lost in your brown eyes

forever.

--Ken Harmon