MIS­TAKEN IDEN­TITY

I used to think the moon was just
    the sun when it was tired
and did not have the strength to shine
    but had not yet expired,

and when the sun came back, I thought,
    it was the moon made strong
by sleep and rest to shine again
    in bril­liance all day long.

But then, one day, I glanced above.
    The sky was bright and cheery,
and I could see both moon and sun.
    Well, so much for my the­ory!

I later learned the shin­ing moon
    reflects the shin­ing sun,
and though the sun and moon are two
    the shin­ing is just one,

and so, it seems, what I had thought
    was sort of, kind of, right:
our moon is just the way our sun
    shines down on us at night.