Poem for Moonrise

I went down to the water to see the moon rise with my love
down by the harbour, across the river's mouth
the crane lights blinking on the tall cargo ships
the city nestling into the cool summer night

quietly, she rose from nowhere
a fat gold coin inching up through the low clouds
caught between towers, hanging, for just a moment
a perfect shining fruit, sweet with all the nights she remembers
soft with all the loving she has seen

when women and men died, in times before, they covered their eyes with coins
little golden tokens to carry into the next life
into the mystery waiting behind that last door

and they say it was for payment: fare for the ferryman
or for wealth and power in the life beyond life

but nights like these, I wonder, if sometimes
the little shining discs were only mirrors
only small talismans, to say:

once you walked under the golden moon
once we walked together, and her light
fell on our faces and in our hearts

and you were loved;
you were loved.