As Moon Beams Fade

The tiger prowls at night,
hunting moon beams as its prey.
Wandering apparitions sail the darkness,
searching for a place to rest.
Landing past dawn, 
they evaporate with the sunrise.
Streaks of red paint the imagination.
We look beyond our own sight.
Stories once told to children
no longer find a home.
What is real and what is not
are questions for the ages.
We cannot hold on to dreams
that perish in the light. 
Time does not belong to us.
Wisdom has its worth.
We pack our bags and walk away,
never looking back, 
as moon beams fade before our eyes.


Traversing Rough Seas

Sorrow follows joy / as night follows day.
But in the first glimmer of daylight, sorrow
begins to fade. You were torn from my womb
50 years ago, my beautiful fair-haired boy. I
still feel the ache of your departure, knowing 
it was not meant to be. The loving & longing 
would not let go. You were the ocean, violent 
& wild / a ship traversing the storm. I was a 
beacon calling you home / a light searching
through the dark night. Scuttled on rocks
you drifted aimlessly until you found your 
way home to port. Joy follows sorrow / as day 
follows night. The raging storm subsides.

Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry; nominated for the 2023 Dwarf Stars award of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association; winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year. She is the author of 16 poetry books, and one short story book. She lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Her most recent credits are: The Phoenix; Eclipse Lit, Carolina Muse, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Ephemeral Literary Review, and many more. Visit her website.

Image: “Lighthouse and Shadows” by Sharon Mollerus under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.