Midnight Laundry

by Lori Hershberger

I washed my soul in the moonglow tonight
Scrubbed it clean and hung it to dry;
Under a wide and spangled sky,
I scrubbed my soul and hung it to dry.

And the moon looked down at me, big and tired
It said to me, “Child, why do you cry?”
Under a wide and spangled sky,
It asked me, “Child, why do you cry?”

I looked at the moon who just looked at me
I said, “Oh moon, I don’t know why.”
Under that wide and spangled sky,
“Oh moon, I don’t know, I don’t know why.”

The moon said, “I know.” And just looked at me
And then the moon too began to cry,
Swimming in that wide and spangled sky,
The moon looked at me and began to cry.

Lori Hershberger lives in Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand, where she teaches EFL and dreams of traveling across the Salawin River into Burma. You can find her book, Dustbeams, on Amazon.

Photography by Kenneth Godoy