Moon Light

A friend of mine had muscular dystrophy.

Wheelchair bound, he was fifteen 

Before his parents ever let him

Spend the night away from home.

But one auspicious night he stayed

45 miles away, at his grandmother’s house.

The bedroom that she put him in was on the south side of her house,

And just shortly after 8 o’clock, 

She heard him moaning.

She went to see if he were in pain,

But he was lying happily there hollering at the moon.

She laughed and shook her head and said,

“Go to sleep, Eugene!”

But, nonetheless, he kept her up all night long,

Continuing to howl and laugh and croon

At the big full moon transversing across his view.

The grandmother told the parents next day,

And they marveled, “He may never have seen the moon like that.

His window at home doesn’t face south, but north,

But last night he just happened to be 

Where he could see it, almost all night,

And it just happened to be gloriously full

In the clear night sky!”

They told this story at his funeral.

He was 33.

-jenn