I am not seen before the starlight,
yet, next to the moon, I stand.
Wait next to the power I might,
And here I am the last at hand,
Once, in mid-air you did find me,
between the ninth and thirteenth, see?
And soon you find me just behind me,
right after this, I sure will be.

I think that the intended answer of the riddle is  "A Comma", which truly satisfies all the given conditions.
But, either of the the words "And" or "Shadow" also seem to  satisfy most of the  provisions of the puzzle.
However, unlike the other two words, "a comma" satisfies all the conditions and threfore, is the best possible answer to the given problem.

Edited on March 2, 2007, 10:59 am

Edited on March 2, 2007, 11:01 am

Edited on March 2, 2007, 11:05 am

Edited on March 2, 2007, 11:06 am

Posted by K Sengupta on 2007-03-02 10:58:21