When I saw the black moon, a memory played inside my mind. In the 21st century, Lynne was sitting behind me on a motorcycle, hugging me, as we rode through the night toward our apartment building. Around her ring finger she fancied the charm of a black swan, which matched with her black jeans, black boot heels, black jacket and black shirt.
When I looked back down at her, there was a look upon her expression that said “I told you so,” but instead her mouth asked “Do you believe in soulmates now?”
The black moon showed us the same vision, and it showed us that we both in comparison to the rest of the world loved differently, and this made us the same. We saw into the future as if it were the past.
“Yes,” I told her. Once I said this, she let go of my hand, and at the same time, the moon turned from black into a shade of orange. And with this change, the old memory was gone and a new one was incited in the both of us. We both saw, that perhaps in another era and in another life, I chased her, she wearing orange cloth, through fields in the 13th century.
“I rest my case,” Lynne interrupted the memory. I looked down at her again and she began again. “Two souls forbidden to pair, but their eyes do dare.”
When the moon changed into a shade of red, we both sat down on a concrete ledge and Lynne told me that when we got back she was going to buy two pool chairs so we can sit up here.
The vision the red moon gave us took place in the 28th century. On the colonized planets of Venus and Jupiter, she on Venus and I on Jupiter, we exchanged digital messages, her on the screen in red leather, of meeting for the first time on Mars.
In between red and the next color, she told me that she had a dream last night that made her want to start painting important dreams she had, but before I could ask her what her dream was about, the moon turned purple.
In the 17th century, Lynne laid on a lavender bed in a purple dress as I painted the imagery of her. I told her that this was partially inaccurate as I could not paint to save my life, in this century or any other century.
In the 1st century, this time Lynne and I were in a church. She had been dressed in blue and weeping alone, and when I asked her why she wept, she told me she was mourning the death of Andrew, one of Jesus’s apostles.
In the 22nd century and from a green moon, she wearing a green bikini and sitting behind me, we rode a jet-ski into the horizon.
The yellow moon was by far one of the more interesting colors. It was again the 17th century, and in what seemed to be a very poor area of the town, I watched Lynne through a window as she combed her hair in a yellow dress.
Core Thesis
This text is a piece of romantic magical realism, using a surreal, supernatural event—a spectrally-shifting moon—to explore themes of eternal love, reincarnation, and the concept of soulmates. The narrative frames this epic, time-spanning connection by grounding it in an intimate, modern moment, suggesting that a profound bond can transcend time, space, and circumstance.
Key Themes and Motifs
- Eternal Love / Soulmates: This is the story’s explicit central theme. The entire sequence of visions is triggered as “proof” for the narrator. Lynne’s question, “Do you believe in soulmates now?” and the narrator’s eventual affirmation, “Yes,” serve as the narrative’s main arc. Lynne’s “I told you so” expression and her poetic line, “Two souls forbidden to pair, but their eyes do dare,” frame their connection as a fated, recurring, and perhaps rebellious destiny.
- Cyclical and Non-Linear Time: The story completely flattens time. The future (22nd and 28th centuries) is seen “as if it were the past,” just as accessible as the 1st or 17th centuries. The moon acts as a device that allows the characters to access this “menu” of their shared existence, suggesting that all these lives are happening simultaneously or are part of an eternal, repeating loop.
- Color Symbolism: The moon’s changing colors are the primary structural device, with each color corresponding directly to the vision it induces, often reflected in Lynne’s attire.
- Black: Represents the “present” or origin moment, defined by mystery and intimacy. Lynne is dressed entirely in black, matching the moon.
- Orange: Triggers a vision of a “chase” in the 13th century. Orange often symbolizes energy, warmth, and transition, fitting for the first leap into the past.
- Red: Evokes passion but also distance. The vision is of a futuristic, long-distance relationship between planets, with Lynne in “red leather.”
- Purple: Associated with royalty, luxury, and art. The vision is a lavish 17th-century scene where the narrator paints Lynne in a “purple dress.”
- Blue: Symbolizes sadness, piety, and history. This vision is the most ancient (1st c.) and melancholic, showing Lynne “dressed in blue and weeping” in a church.
- Green: Represents life, nature, and leisure. The vision is a vibrant, active 22nd-century scene on a jet-ski, with Lynne in a “green bikini.”
- Yellow: Presents a stark contrast. In a second 17th-century vision, yellow is associated not with joy, but with poverty, yet the intimate, observational moment (watching her “through a window” in a “yellow dress”) remains.
- Duality and Contrast: The text emphasizes that their bond persists through radically different circumstances. The visions are a study in contrasts:
- Wealth vs. Poverty: They exist as wealthy subjects of a painting (purple, 17th c.) and as residents of a “very poor area” (yellow, 17th c.).
- Joy vs. Sorrow: They experience leisure (green, 22nd c.) and profound grief (blue, 1st c.).
- Proximity vs. Distance: They share intimate-terrestrial space (21st c. motorcycle) and are separated by planets (28th c. digital messages).The story argues that the essence of their connection is the only constant, regardless of the external setting.
Narrative Structure and Devices
- The Moon as Catalyst: The moon is the story’s engine. It is not a passive object but an active, supernatural force that “shows” them these visions. Its transformation from black to various colors suggests the unlocking of different facets of their shared soul.
- Blending the Mundane and the Mystical: The story’s power comes from its blend of the epic and the ordinary. The characters are witnessing millennia of their shared lives, but this is punctuated by mundane, present-day comments. While observing the red moon, Lynne breaks the mystical tension to say she’s “going to buy two pool chairs so we can sit up here.” This grounding detail makes the fantastic elements feel more tangible.
- Lynne as the Guide: The narrator is the audience surrogate, the one who needs convincing. Lynne is the guide who already understands their connection. She prompts the narrator, interrupts the visions with her own commentary (“I rest my case”), and seems to possess a deeper knowledge of their shared destiny.
- Meta-Commentary: The narrator’s interruption of the purple-moon vision (“I told her that this was partially inaccurate as I could not paint…”) is a striking moment. It breaks the “reality” of the vision, suggesting the narrator retains their 21st-century consciousness, and reinforces that these are shared experiences rather than full-immersion reincarnations.
Conclusion
The text is a compact and highly visual fantasy that uses a strong central metaphor—the multi-colored moon—to argue for a love that is fated, persistent, and more powerful than time itself. It paints a portrait of two souls bound together, whether they are riding a motorcycle, weeping in a 1st-century church, or sending digital messages across the solar system.