Shine On, Harvest Moon

Tonight, if the cloud covering isn’t too bad, some of us will be treated to a view of a harvest moon, the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox. Technically, this means that the earth’s equator plane and the sun’s center line up … how they figured that out, I’ll never know. But this year, the September full moon is very close to the equinox date, Sept. 23rd. So it will be especially lovely and visible earlier, shortly after sunset.

That’s the extent of my physics about the harvest moon. But I did write a lot of moon poems in the past few years, and thought I’d post a couple here:

Exclipse

I’d given up.

I’d seen it full,

that was enough.

Clouds in the way

and it was cold.

Just one last look —

and there it was!

The huge, blue globe

hushed as all space.

If I’d missed it,

no harm done, true.

But some long night

the moon may sing

revealing all

I want to know.

Haikus

At night, the city

is an illusion of light.

Still, the moon is real.

Everything in ruin?

True, but if you lift your eyes,

There She is, the moon!

© Ellen Diamond