Bethlehem

You said loving her was like discovering the moon

when you thought you'd learned the heavens by heart.

And I smiled, but I wanted to tell you

that you and I 

would have been a planetary conjunction,
would have lit the heavens, 

we would have burnt out hot and dark

something so rare, so unimaginable

They would would still see our fire

ten million years after we'd been lit.

The moon is just a reflection of old light, 

words you know how to recite, poems that have

already been written, loving her is easy.

I would give you unnamed stars,

I would take your hand and lead you out of the
overcrowded auditorium of astronomy 101,
into the moonless, inky dark. 

So when you tire
of trying to turn lonely midnights into meaning,
when your heart is a black hole
and the stardust in your sheets has turned to sand,

You'll find me under the ancient sky,

this girl with eyes like burning stars 

when every constellation in the heavens looks like you.