Anne Porter: "Getting Up Early"

Just as the night was fading
Into the dusk of morning
When the air was cool as water
When the town was quiet
And I could hear the sea

I caught sight of the moon
No higher than the roof-tops
Our neighbor the moon

An hour before the sunrise
She glowed with her own sunrise
Gold in the grey of morning

World without town or forest
Without wars or sorrows
She paused between two trees

And it was as if in secret
Not wanting to be seen
She chose to visit us
So early in the morning.

"Getting Up Early" by Anne Porter, from An All Together Different Language. © Zoland Books, 1994.

Photography credit: "Full moon rises over rooftops in New York," by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images. "The full moon rises over rooftops March 19, 2011 in this view from the east side of Manhattan in New York. The full moon coincided with its closest approach to the Earth, 221,565 miles (356,575 km), making the so-called `super moon' look slightly larger than average" (originally color).