maybe words come here to die—
and here lies the absurdity
in all their endeavors
swing set echoes (once a kind of therapy)
soaked love letters longing to linger,
to have been there for someone and meant something to someone
once we sat with a wise one who said
wring the gloves out before you put them on
be watchful of the recluse
that wise one didn’t mess that story up
in truth, she’s the best at storytelling
and I listened all the way through to her soul
another wise one said
Cynthiae figuras aemulatur mater amorum
but here, I disagree with him
Cynthia aemulatur matrem amorum
for she orbits all the Earthly things
like one of his several LLCs
or his long easy acquisition (a contradiction of his making)
without an atmosphere to call her own
Sextus Propertius cautioned with compassion:
for not the heaven-raised pyramids’ expense …
by Death’s supreme indemnity forgiven
to filching fire or rain their crowns submit
by Time’s stroke, and their weight, they crash, defied
not so shall pass the fame by poet’s wit
achieved; for that endures in deathless ornament
now in her darkest, shameful hours,
only the recluse’s shadow remains,
fearing the utter crush of death wringing at the throat,
further thrusting her into a manic expression
of his anoxic substances and material emptiness,
maybe she sees that her LLC is barren of family
because he always cowers at the burden of responsibility
References:
1. Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius.
2. Propertius, The Elegies, Book III.2:1-26 Mind endures
Insight:
Cynthiae figuras aemulatur mater amorum. “The mother of loves imitates the forms of Cynthia”. Galileo used these words to describe how Venus exhibits phases like the Moon—a key discovery Galileo made with his telescope. “Cynthia” refers to the Moon and “mater amorum” refers to Venus (the planet, not just the goddess).
Cynthia aemulatur matrem amorum. “Cynthia imitates the mother of loves” (i.e., “The Moon imitates Venus”). I point to the superiority of both the planet and the true goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, and victory. Venus and the Moon both shift through phases, but only one is bound to Earth’s pull. Cynthia is locked in orbit, defined by her relationship to something else, whereas Venus moves freely, unburdened by the gravitational weight of Earth, a powerful metaphor for dependency versus autonomy.
Our Moon’s tragedy, then, is not just about material emptiness or emotional regret, but about the inability to break free—her lack of an atmosphere mirrors her lack of agency. She is a reflection of Earth’s movements rather than a force of her own. The juxtaposition of Propertius’ poetic longing with the modern LLC metaphor sharpens the sense of a person who has mistaken acquisition for substance, only to find herself barren in the end.
When Galileo published Sidereus Nuncius, he used a spyglass capable of 20x magnification. This means that an object 643 miles away—the straight-line distance from Danville, IL, to Tishomingo, OK—would appear to be just 32.15 miles away. Since 1610, advances in optics and digital technology have far surpassed Galileo’s instrument. Today, a high-end drone equipped with optical zoom (like the Zenmuse H20T) can discreetly capture detailed images of someone tying their shoes or engaging in nefarious activities from an inconspicuous distance.
Image credit:
Galileo’s sketches of the moon from Sidereus Nuncius, published in March 1610.
Primitive Joe 
