When the Sun Says Goodbye to the Mountains

When the sun says goodbye to the mountain
The mountain move a little closer
To the sky

The sun arrives at the top of the night

And drops down
Into a bevy of stars
Reciting nursery rhymes
About sugar
And violins

The stars tell the sun

That the mountain
Would move itself
Up into the Heavens
If it could spend even one hour
Closer to her warmth

The sun wonders about her farewell

Whether it was too poignant
Or overly sentimental

She gravitates toward a memory

Of herself
Looking back at the mountain
And in this particular memory
The mountain seems happy
To watch her go

Not sad

Not upset
Not forlorn

Happy

Satisfied

And she’s pleased

She ascends knowing

That nothing is left down on Earth for her

Nothing remains

To apologize for

The sun tells herself

That she cannot return to the mountain
Until the night subsides
And the stars slumber
And the nursery rhymes
Rain down on sleeping children
From Persia
To Peru

The sun counts her light--

Each ray
Each burst
Each ember

She waits for the moment

When dawn is required
Then lays her leg
Down into the valley
Where a young man
Awakens
On a day that will help him
Meet his love
At a bar called Henrietta’s
Two miles

From where he lives

The sun isn’t concerned with the man

She’s concerned with the mountain

And when it sees her

She knows the stories of the stars are true

She shines down

On it
The way only a lovestruck sun
Can shine

The mountain relaxes

Against the earth
Letting its rocks soften
And its trees take root

The sun and the mountain

Tell each other stories
Of days that went on too long
And nights that never ended
And they promise that today
Will not be one of those days

And that when night comes

It will not be one of those nights

And the promises they make

Are carried across the valley
Into the ear of a girl
Who will find today to be a good day

A different sort of day

And she’ll decide to go out tonight

To the bar with the funny name
So she can fall in love with a boy

Who didn’t know that this day

Was going to be anything special at all

And while all this happens

The sky lifts itself up a bit higher
Wondering what other wonderful things
Might happen
Today