The Moon Pulls Us All

 

 

A waning moon with in the clear western skies these last few days put me in mind of the above January 2008 photo I took of the full moon setting over Mill Bay. This is a good time to post some moon poems.  “Full Moon at Sunrise” was inspired by a bitterly cold ride to work on a February, 1980 morning in Hamilton, Ontario. The bay referred to in the poem is Hamilton Harbour located at the west end of Lake Ontario.

Full Moon At Sunrise

Full moon at sunrise,
frosty dawn with new ice on the bay.
north wind sifts down cold,
chill armloads of silver straw.

The moon slides westward,
caught out late,
her magic lying carelessly about.

In this bitter cold I could believe
this sequence might go either way;
the moon return, the sun retire,
as if one day, the moon and winter
could disavow their need for fire.

(February 1980)

……………………………………………………

I Hold My Hands Out to You, Moon

I hold my hands out to you, moon,
pale butter on a plate of pearl,
my would-be lover turning home.
No thought to grasp and pull you in,
but morning rush of admiration!

(February 2019)

……………………………………………………………..

The Moon Pulls Us All

September morning with fog banks on the inlet,
the tide low and glistening,
a thin moon rides its noon-time,
alabaster on a faded silk.
The eye divines the roundness of its self-absorption.
moon round earth, earth round sun,
the harmony known to Newton and his ciphers,
Magellan and his astrolabe.

Yet the moon pulls us all.
The spheres bulge and ripple; the waters surge and sink.
In them and of them, the Orcas plunge,
sporting their moonstruck bodies
where our boat is carried by the flood.

At sunset, a slim woman rises shining from the sea,
shakes her long hair in the golden light
and jewelled spheres of water fly away
like stars.

(September 2005)