“Der Mond” - Katie Anne O’Gallagher

My hands press against the cold cobblestone

belonging to the centuries upon centuries old bridge.

Wuerzburg fights with another town for oldest European bridge.

Two saints long gone loom over me

forever perfectly frozen in stone.

They are not remnants from the original bridge.

The town is ablaze despite

the wee hours of the night.

Reminds me of home

the city that never sleeps.

Yet my attention could not be farther

from the invigorated town.

She is in the sky tonight.

I can rarely see her back home

hiding behind the skyscrapers and pollution

but this town is perfectly clean.

So, she is in direct view tonight.

Not even an obnoxious cloud

can obscure her beauty tonight.

I lean forward in a trance, not even fearful

of the calm waters of river Main beneath me.

You are beautiful.

She never responds.

She has heard these words before.

Greater poets have wooed her

with more eloquent words than mine.

Your glow consumes the sky and my soul.

I am blinded by your porcelain skin.

I feel as though I can trace your deep crevices.

Do not fret, they do not limit your beauty

as tabloids may claim.

They only exemplify your grace.

She remains unamused.

I want to be consumed by her!

I want to join her!

I want to exist alongside her

and the millions of glass shards circling her.

I threw my arms in her praise.

The saints almost watched Main eat me whole.

I want to be with you in the cold depth of darkness!

Release me from this backwards world!

At home this would be a normal scene.

The blunt Germans stop and stare.

Divine femininity

deemed by the ancient civilizations before me.

Selene dedicating the course of time.

Losna pushing and pulling the oceans.

Mawu wise and a part of the Supreme Creator.

Ix Chel ensuring the future of humanity.

You control the blood flow within me

with your all-encompassing feminine energy.

Mia bella, mia luna

Grande lune glorieuse

Mi alma mi luna

I spot a disheveled German man.

He must have left the Irish Pixie

or is that place on the other side of town?

What is the German word for the moon?

He stares into my soul for too long a while,

making me regret even breathing near a local.

Der mond

He spoke in the bitterness that is German

but he said the words with a fantastic grin

and then he returned to shuffling across the cobblestone.

Der?

I consider the man was so drunk

he forgot his own language.

Der is masculine that cannot be correct.

Like a true foreigner I opened my translator app.

Der mond

You exude femininity!

You are no man!

Her crevices sneakily sneer at me.

Der mond?

His smile widens into a similar fantastic grin.

I look towards the great saints for answers.

Saint Kilianus and Patroness Franconia have no words for me.

I grip the cobblestone not feeling the rock piercing my soul.

Leaning further towards the Main.

You are a fraud!

I thought we were one in the same!

Why are we no longer?

Venus and Jupiter are millions upon millions of kilometers apart.

Venus is warm, passionate, densely filled with love.

Jupiter is frigid with a gruesome bloody center.

We are connected by the Sun’s orbit, but we can never be intertwined.

Do not all of Jupiter’s great loves surround him?

Has Venus not engaged in her fair share of bloody war?

Has your passion not steered vitriol within you?

Great love has filled you with warmth.

Great loss turned you frigid.

I am she; I am he.

We are she; We are he.

Why must that be a betrayal?

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Katie Anne Frances O’Gallagher is a Junior English and History student with minors in Film and Gender studies at the UAlbany. They are from Queens, New York, and this is their second time being published formally. They enjoy reading either gothic, sci-fi, or historical novels and playing board games with friends.