Astralgia

The sun still sets in the west
But the moon is upside down
Its silent seas reversed
Swirling clockwise into an ocean
That lulls me to sleep
Like interstate traffic back home

The stars still rise in the east
Or emerge from a purple twilight
But I don’t know half of them
Just a broken cross near a centaur
Five pinpricks in the south
And the north is all wrong

They say water drains backwards here
But I haven’t noticed
It’s not the language nor the women
It’s the sky that reminds me
On this side of the equator
I am alien