Moonlight

How does anything get anywhere in the universe? An ocean of black. An endless sky. A universe perpetually growing. I may not know everything, but I do know my story. I know where I’ve been and I’d be happy to tell you how I was a lost moon until one day I wasn’t.

It all began during a summer solstice which also happened to be a lunar eclipse. Just as my planet, Cyrene, was passing between me and the sun, an asteroid entered into our gravitational pull and made direct contact into me. I was knocked out of orbit and began to spin in ways I never thought I could. I could see my planet slowly getting smaller. A piece of the asteroid had broken in the collision and it looks as if it had so simply taken my place. Being lulled into a peaceful state of gravity, that piece of rock will eventually correct its rotation and Cyrene will never know the difference.

Farewell Cyrene, our hundred millennia together will not soon be forgotten. I watched as the exquisite hues of sapphire and aquamarine that grip Cyrene fade and the heat of the golden amber sun that warmed us both is very quickly missed. Now I twist further and further into a forever midnight sky. The coldness without a sun is sharp and leaves me wishing upon a star. Hope for another planet, another gravitational pull to come hurdling towards me soon so I can take on the tides just as I did for Cyrene. Little did I know just how much time it would take a moon like me to travel.

The thing about space is that once you start moving, you will keep moving in that direction and at that speed until something gets in your way or pulls you in. My outer rock was ice cold, frozen to the touch. I guess lucky for me, there would be no visitors for quite some time so I didn’t have to worry. Light years of travel had passed. I had seen nebulas with dusts of burnt orange and clouds of magenta and cobalt. I had seen galaxies from a distance. Spirals of clusters of stars drenched in dark indigo and luminescent violets, sprinkled with silver and bronze. I wonder if a moon is needed in these galaxies I pass. I wonder if they are yearning for me just as I to them.

As I endlessly spin in frozen darkness I feel the smallest little tug. What was that? The tug comes again. And again. Ever so slightly, the tug gets a bit stronger. Once I make a full rotation I notice a ruby red planet not too far away. A spark of hope ignites as I am being pulled into this planets orbit. Finally! Finally, I’ll be back to doing what I do best. I’ll be orbiting a wondrous planet, learning its gravitation pull, and best of all my icy exterior will certainly be thawed and I will grace this planet with the serenity of moonlight in the darkest of nights. I let gravity pull me in effortlessly when suddenly something whizzes by me. What was that? I try to search but it must have been just random debris. I unfold again to the planet taking me in and again, whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! It’s not debris at all, but asteroids. Just as I think I’ve found a new home, a large asteroid comes rushing into me and strikes me completely out of the pull of a planet I’d never known but already miss.

I spin faster. Faster than before. I can hardly tell which direction I came from and I certainly don’t know where I’m going. The speed at which I rotate makes it hard to enjoy the space around me so instead I sleep. I let the universe decide its course for me and if twisting through darkness is all I have left, then I certainly won’t be missing out on anything.

It’s strange to consider time in a black universe. There is no sun to come up or me to go down to indicate a new day has come, yet somehow I can feel myself getting older. I’ve hardly bothered to admire the far galaxies or nebulas that I’m sure have passed by. Instead I am woken by another tug. Another pull. I wonder if I should bother waking, but a smidge of hope comes creeping through. My rotation slows as I’ve began entering this orbit so I might as well see what I’m in for.

When I finally muster up the courage, I see exactly what I’m being pulled toward. There is bright light, but it is no sun. It’s actually not even a star. Or at least, not anymore. There’s no escape. There’s no hope. A giant black hole is going to swallow me up and who knows if I’ll ever get out. The doom that circles this hole in the universe whirls and roars. As I get closer, I feel frozen deep to my core. This black hole is strong and brings me in quickly. In what feels like mere moments, I am consumed. Darkness surrounds me. Not a pinch of light has traveled to where I am. The only good thing is that I am rotating much slower now. Not there is anything to look at. Without the passing of debris or rock or stars in space, it’s hard to tell if I’m even moving at all. This is it for me. I was once a moon to a planet that needed me and now, I am just another rock floating into nothing. Time for another long sleep.

Who knows how long that sleep had lasted. Who knows how long the darkness stayed. What I do know, is that it wasn’t forever. The black hole eventually spit me out into a brand new galaxy and the only reason I know that is because the next time I woke, it wasn’t to the tug of a potential gravitation pull or the smashing of an asteroid. Instead I had woken to an orbit. I have no idea how long I’d even been here. The planet in front of me resembles Cyrene. The variations of teals and deep blues take up most of the planet. Along with large patches of emerald and turquoise greens and crisp whites. This planets beauty is undeniable. I was so entranced, I hardly noticed the warmth and brightness of the light that came from the center star. My icy exterior had long faded. I must have been here for quite some time to have thawed so much.

What an incredible view that surrounds me. Comforted by the lull of this orbit, I couldn’t have asked for a better place to spend eternity. No asteroids in sight. No black holes. But there is something coming toward me. Please don’t push me out of this new home. I haven’t been awake long enough to appreciate it, I can’t lose it already. But as this new object approaches I realize it’s far too small to harm me at all. The object eventually enters my orbit and actually lands next to one of the craters that was given to me by the asteroid that knocked me out of Cyrene’s grasp. Figures in white exit the object and begin walking along my surface. I am thankful to no longer be frozen for these creatures that have come to visit. The creatures communicate to each other and indicate the planet I stare at is called Earth.

I turn toward Earth and think, Hello Earth, I’m Moon and I can assure you that even the darkest of nights I will give you light.