go outside
at night
(yes, it’s dark)
and look up
at the new moon

no
you cannot see it
but look up
even though
it is invisible

speak your intentions
to the listening air
to the waiting moon
and know
that the force that pulls the tides

is still there
is waiting
that darkness
is not forever

sow your seeds
in darkness
like the old-timers
who planted
by moonsign

root crops in the new moon
others under the full
like the preacher’s wife
who swore by this
(there is a little pagan
in all of us)

stand in darkness
and speak your truths
and know

that when you stand
in darkness
you stand
in the time-before-time
in the darkness of the womb

in the darkness of the spaces
between stars
the great dark
of beginning