The moon tonight, the night of the longest day of the year (June 21st) is the size and color of a ripe apricot. I had resisted, at first, buying the apricots here in Umbria. I had only a memory of California’s apricots that looked ripe but were hard and never ripened, or ripened into a surly pulp without ever tasting satisfyingly apricot-ish.

But I was wrong; the apricots in Umbria are gorgeous. And the moon in Umbria tonight is a heavy, succulent fruit.

One star hangs above the moon’s shoulder, keeping watch as they rise together over a hill on the edge of Lago Trasimeno.

We had apricots for dinner, and the tangy honey of their flesh still lingers on my tongue. The apricots taste like the moon. *

* I must credit my friend Reg with this line.

~Wei Ming Dariotis