Lullaby

It was as if they were a Sun and a Moon, one spinning around the other, being pulled by the invisible strings of gravity, anchored by a balancing planet. The Moon catches the Sun’s light – the warm, soft glow that’s tempered like glowing embers. And slowly, she melts too. 

 

They were on a wooden sandolo rolling down the calm waters of the Venice lagoons. It was getting dark, as the remnants of light faded away around them. All that could be heard was the whistling of the wind as they cut gracefully through the waves, oars crashing against the water. 

 

She melts to his smile, the golden light radiating from his skin as if it were glitter. He was the star that shone brighter than the others. He had shadows of yellow and highlights of white, dying a distinct spot against the monochrome colors of her world. 

 

He had a cherry for a nose. It was red against the light of the moon. As they rocked on the waves, she found herself unable to rip her gaze away from him. She’s greedy, wanting to keep as much of him in her memory as possible. She held on to more than she could hold, and his image blurred and dulled in the static night that was her memory.

 

The Sun was all the color in her world. She fell for him like falling in love with a piece of art. He was perfection; ad astra per aspera, maybe she deserved all this. But part of her felt like she could never, no matter what she did, deserve to look upon such perfect beauty. 

 

He existed on the boat with her, but in another realm, another dimension, his beauty was imperceivable. She couldn’t wrap her head around this beauty that he held, just that some deity from above gave her this strange power that could perceive him in this light, that when she called out to him, she was hugging her arms around the divine grace. It made her life complete; he was the puzzle piece she never knew she needed. 

 

She began to sing to him softly, delicate petals of spring’s buds. Her voice came from her. Her in a single black knee-length dress with long laced boots. She sings to the sun. The sun in a black shirt and matching trousers, with his black blazer draped over his body as some sort of cover. 

 

“You are the sun, I am the moon…”

 

She sings to the fragile body curled up, head against her shoulders. The calm beating of his heart gives a rhythm to her melody. The Western wind blows against the boat, spreading his fringes across his forehead. 

 

“…what light you see in me, is merely your reflection…”

 

Her words carry the weight of a thousand grassy hills with a thousand creaking crooks shimmering in the silver glow of the moon. Night wiped all the activity from the Earth, turning it into an infinite, blank canvas. The roar of the dark ocean entranced her with its enigmatic presence. 

 

“…through the length of night.”

 

At that moment, she felt truly happy. A true happiness that seemed to stem from somewhere outside of her. Like she could be happy forever just staring at him, with nothing to puncture the joy. It was the closest she will ever get to a truth. 

 

She loved him, and that statement could only be true, because he didn’t need to talk, he didn’t need to make a sign, for her to look at him and feel the buzz that people call “love”. Love was real, and nothing else mattered. To catch sight of her and to love her are the same thing, that is in the moment; the very same moment everything is over, and the same endlessly repeats itself.

 

She thanked the silent void of the universe for bringing her the Sun, as she sang those lullabies until time’s eternity collapsed into total oblivion. 

 

And all that was left was a sky of scattered stardust. 

 

Writer – Cynthia Zheng
Editor – Angela Wei
Artist – Khemjira Phutirat

–July 2026–