Moon in a Bowl

Why did people once carve
Crescent moons on outhouse doors?
Sign of contemplation, the look

Of concentration even pets
Get when pausing for excretion?
There’s one hoary legend holds

That it had to do with gender,
But there’s no substance to that,
And plenty of outhouses lacked

Any door carvings at all.
So let’s say, if you were going
To carve a vent in that door,

To let in light and let out smell,
You’d probably want to keep it small
And simple, and maybe jokey,

Outhouses being used often
At night, after all. Charming
Trait of humans, to do

Things mysterious to yourselves
That come out of you, somehow,
And about which you lie.