A boy so chiseled in beauty has beguiled the moon

Even the stars, enthralled by his lonely grace

etch his face across the night sky

A boy with a face as pale as the moon gazed up at the stars, his eyes twinkling in the dim light like two drops of fairy dust. He yearned for the dark sky to reach down upon the earth and cradle him in its cosmos. 

He wished to be enveloped in the twilight, to be whisked away to a kingdom where the stars never faded and the world was cast in eternal night. 

Every night as the moon ascended to her peak in the sky, the boy climbed out through his bedroom window and up the ivy veins to the roof. 

He could always hear a soft melody drift through the air, the words a distant but strangely familiar cry in the wind that calmed his disquieted heart. He softly hummed the lament, pondering the stars in their vast array. 

Meanwhile every night since the breath of existence, from her seat on the porcelain throne overlooking the world, the lonely lunar queen would sing the world to sleep. 

The boy’s voice carried the woes of his fragility and loneliness as he responded to her song - a dark void of solitude where she too often found herself. 

The boy’s heart was a battered ship amidst internal tempests, kindred to her own, always on the brink of falling apart. His heart called to hers, like a beacon on the shore, their song the guiding light binding their souls together. 

On one particular night he ascended to his rooftop in a fit of tears, shedding the entire ocean within him. His parents had been fighting again and their angry words followed him out the window. 

There was peace in his house only days before, but those fragile moments never lasted long. One day he had asked them if they loved each other - and they said yes - but when he asked them why they fought if they loved each other, there was no response except, you’ll understand when you’re older. 

However, he didn’t want to understand it. He just wanted the arguments to stop. 

It seemed they were always teetering on the edge of anger, and any small nudge would send them reeling over the edge.

He wept, and the queen’s heart broke with every shattering cry, ringing out like an echo into the boundless void. 

She could hear his cries from miles high and grew pained at the thought of what could ail him. For this, she blew him a kiss of wind, which descended upon his rooftop, whooshing him upward through layers of the atmosphere. 

The wind swept the tears from his cheeks and his cries caught in his throat. He glanced down at the world, which grew smaller and smaller as he ascended higher and higher. 

His feet settled upon the moon dust before the lunar queen, their gazes converging in the silent stillness. 

She was beautiful, her dazzling gown of starlight reflected in her crown of moonstone. Her face shining like porcelain. 

The thundering pounds of his heart against his chest faded as he looked upon her with wonder. 

“Excuse me, where am I?” He asked. 

She spread out her arms and gestured to the beautiful moonstone architecture surrounding them. 

“The moon,” she answered softly and smiled. 

“Do you know why I brought you here?”

He shook his head. 

“Because you heard my song when I thought no one was listening, and that makes you special. I see you, and though you may feel lonely, you are not alone.” She beckoned him forward. 

He gazed at her in hesitation before taking a step, then another before stumbling up the steps and into her arms. 

She asked him for the reason behind his tears, which released a fresh torrent down his cheeks. 

With quivering words in between sobs, he told her about his parents and as she learned about his story, her heart ached for him. 

She listened and held him for a long time until his eyelids drooped under the weight of sleep, and she nudged his face up from where it nestled in the crook of her arm. 

Remembering the gift she wanted to give him, she gently stood, and lifted him in her arms. His head resting on her shoulder. 

She reached out to the dark expanse spread before them and one of the stars lept into her fingers from its seat in the sky. 

She whispered a secret woven with magic into the boy’s ear, though he was already fading from consciousness.

He would remember it in his dreams.

“You would be a good mommy,” he muttered into the glittering folds of her gown. 

Her lips trembled, but the tears came from a source sweeter than sadness, something she had not felt in a long time. Love. 

“Thank you,” she caressed his head. 

She tucked the star into his pocket and let the wind gently carry him safely down to his bed. 

She then began to sing, soft as the night, which settled around her. 

This song however did not weave a tale of woe in the way her other melody did. Instead, from it ushered a fountain of joy, which sprang up within her heart while the warm memory of the boy cradled in her arms still clung to her skin. 

The boy was awoken by the sun tickling his nose, and both of his parents were there with him; his mother stretched out beside him while his father sat curled in a chair next to the bed. 

Both of their faces were peaceful - a look he seldom noticed on them anymore. The motion of him sitting up stirred them both from their slumber. 

They both smiled at him sleepily and moved closer. 

“We didn’t know where you were last night. We looked everywhere for you, and yet one final peek in your bedroom, we found you sleeping soundly in your bed.” 

The boy found it difficult to remember the night before. His memory was hazy except for the vague notion of crying, the moon, and a song. 

However, unlike the one he was used to hearing each night that spun a web of woe over the sky, this one spread warmth, filling every space with joy. 

His pocket felt heavy and when he curiously stuck his hand in, it closed around a small warm object that thumped against his fingers. He pulled out a small ball of light, so beautiful, it illuminated the entire room, casting dazzling colors that danced across the wallpaper. And the pulse he realized was a heartbeat. 

Both of his parents started, mesmerized by the ball of light.

“What is that?” His mother asked. 

A memory appeared - words whispered in his ear. 

“A star,” He answered automatically. 

“A star? How could that be a star, it’s illogical.” 

His father grumbled, settling back in his chair. 

A tick of annoyance appeared on his mother’s face and the boy immediately tensed. 

“How can you say that when it’s clearly right in front of you. Seeing is believing,” she turned back to the boy, “Your star is beautiful sweetheart.”  

The boy looked at his mother and then his father, both tense beneath the surface of their calm. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, holding the star close. Words echoed in his mind from the night before, and when he opened them he whispered, “I-I wish for you to stop fighting. To not be angry. Only happy,” his voice shook on the last word. 

A stillness captured the room, suspending everything motionless. 

The star glowed brighter in his hands and both of his parents glowed as well. The star split into two halves and each piece floated to his parents, disappearing inside their chests. 

When the glowing faded, the stillness released its grip and the boy sat silent. His parents looked at each other and wells of emotion gathered in his mother’s eyes. 

“I’m so sorry James, for everything. All of the pointless fights…. I miss you.” 

His father stood up and walked over to her side of the bed, pulling her into his arms. “I’m sorry too.”

The boy looked out the window and spotted the moon, almost unseeable in the morning light. 

Both of his parents together sat on the bed and hugged the boy. “We love you very much, never forget that,” his mother assured. 

He hugged them tightly, never wanting to let go.  

That night he returned to the rooftop, and in the silence he sang to the moon. Words of gratitude and love poured from his lips, hoping they would reach her heart. 

And they did. The moon listened and understood - blithesome. 

Every night since then, even as the boy aged into an old man, he could hear the moon’s euphoric song filling the skies, comforting disparaging hearts across the world.