Just as the sun pours its light into the moon, so too does the moon pour its light into the water beneath it. The moon-like brilliance of the human heart is like this, like the moon on the water.
One night, I fell asleep harboring a wish deep inside my heart, a wish I was born with, a wish tens of thousands of lifetimes old, as old as the birth of the twins, dawn with her rose-petal fingers, and twilight, who separated the two heavenly lovers. I fell asleep with this wish and arrived at a familiar sight—the meeting place of two rivers. This time, I followed the river which they formed when they joined together to their ultimate destination, the ocean. How still the ocean water was that night, with its surface like glass, its glass moon beneath the sky unbroken by waves. Unafraid, I stepped onto the water, and, finding that my feet supported me, as though the surface of the water were solid, I walked towards the black oblivion of the horizon.
The air—warm, filled with cicada song.
Who is that beside me in sleep?
Is it the dreams of the summer breeze entering my room?
As I walked, I noticed the reflection of the moon getting closer and closer. I could see the vague outline of someone kneeling next to it. It was the Virgin Mother of God, Mary, appearing to me with eleven faces and a robe concealing one thousand arms. Though the part of me that dreams could not remember why, immediately I burst into tears and threw myself at her feet.
"Mother of Mercy," I cried, "for countless eons of rebirths I have suffered this pain, the seed of which was planted so long ago I cannot remember it. Take pity on me, Infinitely Compassionate and Merciful Mother, and shine your light down onto me."
All eleven of her faces looked at me, but she remained silent. I was unafraid. An eagle formed of stars took flesh and flew over my head toward the shore.
Then, Mary lowered her hand into the water, scooped the reflection of the moon out, and placed it in the sky next to her double.
Mary: "For countless rebirths the sun and moon have been separated. They saw each other only in passing." As she spoke, the light of the two moons grew and began to envelop the sky. "Tomorrow, their separation will end. They will live together again for a period of time measuring the lifespan of an immortal. These sister moons, these mother-and-daughter moons, these lover moons, they will open the gate to the fields which lie beyond the reign of Heaven."
And night turned to day. Mary took the two full moons from the sky and changed their shape in her palm into a crescent. Then the crescent moons unfolded into the wings of two butterflies, one green and one yellow. And while the Virgin Mary descended into the sea, the two butterflies returned to shore, first one trailing the other, then the other trailing the first, then traveling together side-by-side, completed by each other's company.
I woke up to sunlight streaming through my window, having forgotten to close the shades the night before. The heat of midday had me slick with sweat with my dream still wet on my back.