There is no Arabian moon, I thought. It’s not just theirs,
though it sounded good to me, the Arabian moon.
It came to me because, as I gazed at the moon, I thought,
“The Arabs watch this moon too, of course …
and all the other creatures that have eyes and look up.
And the very first creature with eyes that could look up
saw it first.
I wondered which creature it was that noticed something
so high above and looked up and saw this moon,
the one in the sky up there, right now that I am gazing at.
And how long ago, how very very long ago … it gazed
at the same moon that I am gazing at right now.
The Arabian moon. I like the sound of it—the image
in my head of it—the Arabian moon softly bathing
the Arabian desert night in its moonlight … that moon,
that one, up there … and we’ve walked on it …
and we looked back.