A Celestial Squabble

by Maurice Humphrey

For many months young Parker watched the Sun dutifully rise in the morning and later followed by the Moon passing by during the night. He knew it was only passing by because it only showed its full face to him for a few nights before turning away again. He also knew that for a few days at the end of the month, it wouldn’t show up at all. That’s when he would catch the Sun and Moon talking at the end the day.

In the beginning the Sun brightened the day,
While the Moon watched over the night.
But once a month, as day turned to dark,
The two got together to talk.

Well, maybe "talk" is too mild a word.

“I see everything around me,”
The Sun boasts to the Moon’s pale face.
“There’s nothing that I don’t see,
For to me there is no dark.”

The Moon is not impressed and serenely replies,
“But I see things you’ll never know,
When the stars come out to play.
Things that never show,
During the light of day.”

The Sun is aghast to hear the news
And boils off a flare or two.
“You bask in my radiance,” he suddenly roars,
“Now tell me these things you say I don’t know?”

“There is much that you don’t see,”
The Moon haughtily replies.
“When my soft glow covers the land below,
And other things are tried.”

The Moon gives the Sun a sly wink, which tends to infuriate him more.

“So tell me this,” he mockingly taunts,
“What have you seen in your glow?
Certainly can’t be very much,” he grumbles,
“When it’s dark down there below.”

The Moon softly smiles, then replies in a huff:
“You know I wouldn’t lie to you,
Or even tell you wrong.
But there’s a part of me you’ll never know,
No matter how brightly you glow.”

The Sun is intrigued by this and begs her to go on.

“My other side has her own views,
And thinks of different things.
She plays all night, with the stars above,
While I watch what happens below.

“Sometimes she even gets to watch,
When I’m not looking down,
And she sees what I do not,
What’s happening down below.”

The Sun smiles back at the Moon,
And feels he has the right,
For the Moon can only see below,
What happens during the night.

The Moon smirks back at the Sun, taunting him once again.
“Behold my companion here,” she says,
“The one I revolve around.
Indecision marks her mood,
As she moves away from you.

“She feels both cold and lonely,
As her thoughts turn toward the fall,
And with the coming snow,
She’ll drift further away from you.”

The Sun thinks this over. Then with a gleam he boasts,
“But she always comes back,” he roars,
“To bask beneath my glow.
The winter cold will fade away,
And the flowers begin to grow.”

Unabashedly, the Moon sarcastically replies,
“But, as usual, you overdo it,
And summer will again turn to fall.
As before, she’ll move away,
And winter snows will fall.”

The Moon isn’t done yet, merely waiting as the Sun mulls over what she just said. “And winter snows will fall...” she repeats tauntingly.

“Enough,” the Sun fiercely flares,
“This argument has no end!”
He turns his molten face upon the Moon,
And her pale glow turns to red.

“There once was another,” the Sun then roars,
“That sought to tease me so.
You see my close companion here?”

The Sun takes a moment to find what he’s looking for, as the closest planet orbits into view.
“Ah, there he is. See, I bathed him in my glow.”

“True enough,” the Moon replied,
“And look at what you did.
Now all that’s left of him,
Is a molten lump of...”
Suddenly the Moon realizes what time it is.

“Well...?” the Sun asks impatiently, throwing off a few more flares.

“Such a hothead,” the Moon mutters softly. “In the meantime, just think about it, OK?” Then, like a wisp of smoke, she fades from sight.

“What?” the Sun roars again, “I’m not done talking to you. Come back here, you...”

Parker finishes writing in his notebook as the Moon disappears, while the Sun displays a fiery sunset, majestically sinking into the west. It was the most glorious sight he had seen in quite some time. He makes a few more notes in his little blue notebook and then hides it in his desk drawer.