I Followed The Moon

The Heart Within
by Peter Gundry

I Followed The Moon

I followed the moon to find you

For the moon knew where you did abide

In a forest of green that was hidden, unseen

With no door to let me come inside.

Your feet left no tracks on the soft grass

I could not follow you on the trail

I could not discern for I had not yet learned

All the secrets that you kept so well.

You came to me in shadow one bright night

When I was there weeping alone

Lying in a field of moon flowers

With a young heart that felt made out of stone.

All of my life I'd felt lonely

And thought  that I always would be

Except for the man in the moon, my one friend

(For I thought that the moon followed me.)

And you sang to me while I did sleep

Lying on that ground

You caressed my face with tender grace

And then left without a sound.

I looked for you long after that

And called for you to hear

But though I could not see your form

I felt that you were near.

Sometimes I heard you singing softly

In the whispers of the leaves

Sometimes I saw you clear as day

In the branches of the trees.

At night I dreamed of your bright eyes

Watching in my room

But when I opened up my own,

Saw nothing but the moon.

Sometimes I felt you touching me

Kneeling by my bed

Raising my face for your kiss

Your hand upon my head.

Sometimes you did much more than touch

Sometimes you deemed to linger

And wrapped me in your arms so tight

And round your little finger.

And I began to crave that touch

And hunger for that bliss

And I became a woman, lost

With each beguiling kiss.

For many nights you did not come

Not even in a dream

And I went mad with wanting you

And holding back my scream.

And then one night with second sight

I knew where you might be found

I slipped out of my window

While the moonlight lit the ground.

And I followed the moon as it hurried ahead

In the sky toward the forest so dark

Ignoring the danger, the beast and the stranger

As the hunger led me by the heart.

I followed the moon to find you

Not knowing if man or a ghost

Awaited me there in the green forest lair

Nor if you'd be a welcoming host.

And when the moon had come to rest

I stopped underneath it's glow

Wondering if I'd lost my mind

Because I didn't know.

If you were real or phantom

If you were myth or man

And I cried and cried there in the dark

Until you took my hand.

'You came to me!" you softly breathed

"Your love has set me free!

The curse is reversed and broken

Because you came to me!"

And you covered my face in kisses

And looked into my eyes so deep

"Until tonight I could only touch you

There in the world of sleep."

"Your love has given me flesh and form!"

You cried with human tears

"You do not know how long I've waited

For all these lonely years."

"I followed the moon to find you." I said

"With my heart full of doubt and of doom 

But is this tale of yours true, my love, who are you?"

And you smiled, "I was the man in the moon."

©By Voo

October 2, 2019

2:38 p.m.