WINGED WORDS WINDSDAY
Compiled & Edited by Rob Chappell
(@RHCLambengolmo)
Vol. 2, No. 44: August 30, 2023
Celebrating
the Blue Supermoon TONIGHT!
Introduction
Tonight,
skywatchers around the world will be watching a celestial rarity – a full blue
supermoon! First of all, a supermoon is a Full Moon that appears to be
especially big and bright because the Full Moon is at its closest point in its
orbit to Earth. Tonight’s Full Moon will be the biggest and brightest Full Moon
of 2023!
And just
what is a Blue Moon? It’s the second Full Moon in a calendar month – a
phenomenon that happens only once every 2-1/2 years or so (hence the
expression, “Once in a Blue Moon”). The Moon won’t actually appear blue in the
sky tonight – but that’s OK – it will still be bright and beautiful, like every
other Full Moon that I’ve ever seen.
To
celebrate this auspicious occasion, here are some of my favorite poems about
the Moon, which has been my favorite celestial object for as long as I can
remember! 😊
Editor’s Note
The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are
recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of
ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus –
celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and
their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in
written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their
protoscientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the
forces of Nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain
how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways
that they do. In the following poem, we can learn how the ancient Greeks
perceived the Moon, not as a dead rock in space, but as a living entity (or as
a celestial orb ruled by a divine guardian – in this case, Artemis [in Greek]
or Diana [in Latin]).
.jpg)
The Orion spacecraft's flyby of the Moon in the Artemis 1 mission, from December 2022. (Photo Credit: NASA -- Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Orphic Hymn #8: “To the Moon”
Translated by Thomas Taylor (1758-1835)
"But he (Jupiter) fabricated another boundless Earth,
which the immortals call Selenë, but humans [call] Menë. Which has many
mountains, many cities, many houses."
à Orphic Fragment
Hear, divine queen, diffusing
silver light,
Bull-horned and wandering through
the gloom of Night.
With stars surrounded, and with
circuit wide
Night’s torch extending, through
the heavens you ride:
Female and Male with borrowed rays
you shine,
And now full-orbed, now tending to
decline.
Mother of ages, fruit-producing
Moon,
Whose amber orb makes Night’s
reflected noon:
Lover of horses, splendid, queen
of Night,
All-seeing power bedecked with
starry light.
Lover of vigilance, the foe of
strife,
In peace rejoicing, and a prudent
life:
Fair lamp of Night, its ornament
and friend,
Who gives to Nature’s works their
destined end.
Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana
hail!
Decked with a graceful robe and
shining veil;
Come, blessed, divine, prudent,
starry, bright,
Come lunar-lamp with chaste and
splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with
prosperous rays,
And pleased accept your
suppliant’s mystic praise.
“The Moon”
By Sappho (ca. 630-570 BCE)
Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)
Fade back and vanish very soon,
When, round and full, her silver
face
Swims into sight, and lights all
space.
“Faeries”
By Evaleen Stein (1863-1923)
When stars are twinkling and
A New Moon shines, there come times
When folks see faery-land!
So when there’s next a New Moon,
I mean to watch all night!
Grandfather says a Blue Moon
Is best for faery light,
And in a peach-bloom, maybe,
If I look I shall see
A little faery baby
No bigger than a bee!
“Eldorado”
By Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’
‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’
“The Moon Blessing”
Collected by Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912) in Carmina Gadelica
May thy light be fair to me!
May thy course be smooth to me!
If good to me is thy beginning,
Seven times better be thine end,
Thou fair Moon of the seasons,
Thou great lamp of grace!
The One who created thee
Created me likewise;
The One who gave thee weight and
light
Gave to me life and death,
And the joy of the seven
satisfactions,
Thou great lamp of grace,
Thou fair Moon of the seasons.
“The Moon”
By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
The Moon has a face like the clock
in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the
garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbor
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.
“Wynken, Blynken, and Nod”
By Eugene Field (1850-1895)
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal
light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and
what do you wish?"
The old Moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the
herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have
we!"
Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
The old Moon laughed and sang a
song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all
night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring
fish
That lived in that beautiful sea —
"Now cast your nets wherever
you wish —
Never afraid are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen
three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
All night long their nets they
threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam
—
Then down from the skies came the
wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it
seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a
dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea —
But I shall name you the fishermen
three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
Wynken and Blynken are two little
eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed
the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while Mother
sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful
things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the
fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
.jpg)
The Schrödinger Impact Basin is
located near the South Pole of the Moon. (Photo Credit: NASA – Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons)
“Kind Moon”
By Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
I think the Moon is very kind
To take such trouble just for me.
He came along with me from home
To keep me company.
He went as fast as I could run;
I wonder how he crossed the sky?
I'm sure he hasn’t legs and feet
Or any wings to fly.
Yet here he is above their roof;
Perhaps he thinks it isn’t right
For me to go so far alone,
Though Mother said I might.
