One of my favorite Psalms is the 8th... this line in particular (King James Version because it is so darned poetic & beautiful!):
"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?"
If you've ever been out in the country - the desert or the mountains, even better - no doubt you can totally identify with what the Psalmist is talking about. The vastness of the sky is awe-inspiring, to say the very least. Countless poems, paintings, prose, and other creative works have been inspired by the moon and stars.
Starry Night by Van Gogh
This month's full moon (seen on May 17th) is known as the Milk Moon, the Flower Moon or the Corn Moon.
This week, if you are not in an area being inundated with rain, you can see Venus doing her Morning Star routine in the Eastern sky. And, on May 11th, Jupiter will join her for a bit of a turn around the heavens.
Here's a little poem by one of my favorite writers... Robert Lewis Stevenson
The Moon
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
Do you have a favorite constellation? Do you love to moon-bathe? Do the stars speak to your soul?
I'd love to hear about it!
I've always been a bit of a moon baby. I love staying up to watch the moon dance across the night sky. I particularly love a moon rise in summer when the sky is all purple and orange in a pale, dusky sort of way. Or when she floats through clouds leaving trails of silver in her wake.
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of all that rain you spoke about as well, so I feel your pain. I've always liked Orion. I would always look for it at night when I was a kid and knew right where it was when looking from my front yard. Today, its always the first constellation I look for when I see the stars are out.
ReplyDeleteI love the moon. I grew up in the country where it was always easy to see the moon and stars. Love the poem you posted!
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like staring up at the night sky to put you in your place.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem and I've always loved Van Gogh's Starry Night.
The night sky is so inspiring to me. I love gazing up and thinking about the worlds I'm creating . . . all the possibilities. One of my favorite places to write is out on the porch in the middle of a warm summer night.
ReplyDeleteGreat post :)
Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for the great comments! Good to know there are a bunch of star-gazers like me! :)
ReplyDeleteMy favourite constellation is the seven sisters. It's a small cluster of stars, only it's not really that small. Its name comes from the fact that most people can only see seven (or, in fact six) dots and I love to see if I can see more. So far, on a really really clear night, I saw eleven but I know there are more that are just invisible to the human eye.
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