They were with me all the way to Metro this morning, the moon and Venus. The moon a thin paring, a baby’s fingernail; Venus an emphatic dot above and to the right. Star Date magazine calls them “the most beautiful of all astronomical duos,” and I agree. Clean and simple in the dawn sky, they are twin beacons.

The way they looked this morning reminded me of a wink and a smile. The moon’s lopsided grin rakish and debonair; Venus with its pure eye twinkling. Don’t take the day too seriously, they told me. I’m trying to listen.