Circadian

Three days after she returns from the other end of the world
I am half way to catching up to her jet lag
and she half to mine,
as if we are celestial bodies ourselves
slowly reorienting around one another after some orbital shift,
like The Moon that perpetually turns their brighter side toward their home.

The circadian rhythm, they say, is synchronized by
not only the changing light, but also other rituals such as nourishment.
And we are rituals to one another,
light and nourishment both,
coupling to one another’s oscillations
—sometimes just coupling—
a glad part to the flow of a shared day-and-night
more compelling than the dictate of a mere sun.

Melih Sener