In Thursday’s waning dusk
the jaws of an oncoming storm

swallowed the side-smile moon,
lightning giving glimpses

of the monster expanding
until the sky was devoured too.

I know she remains in place,
unaffected by the clouds

growing between us in the night,
yet I feel her obscuration as an absence.

Alone now, my pace quickens
to reach home before the tempest overtakes me.