"Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never
shows." Mark Twain.
Lupe the Lurcher woke me just after one o'clock this morning. I
got up, to find the house bathed in a pale, eery light. No need for
electricity, I made my way through the silent, far-too-empty-house
(small child on sleepover) with everything around me as clear as
day, except that this strange, unnatural glow was silver, not gold.
Lupe was awake and oddly excited. I followed her into the garden
and discovered, no hovering alien spaceship, just the full
moon.
"The day, water, sun, moon, night - I do not have to
purchase these things with money." Plautus.
We take such trouble, these days, negating the impact of
night-time that we forget how perfectly sufficient, and how
beautiful, the light from the moon and the stars can be.
Next Saturday we have chance to experience the night without
artificial interference. The World Wildlife Fund wants us to switch
our lights out for an hour, from eight thirty onwards, to draw
attention to the problems of climate change. I hope lots of us
will, because the planet our children will inherit needs all the
help it can get.
"The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to." Carl
Sandburg.
I make a point, normally, of never trying to think about
anything too serious during the hours of night-time, being a firm
believer that our normal powers of deduction, logic and judgement
leave us when the sun goes down. The night makes problems seem more
intense, our sadness increases and our world tilts, just
fractionally, towards the negative, the minor keys, the dark side.
On the other hand, what's to say our night-time judgement isn't the
truer one?
You see, I was awake too long beneath the full moon.
"The moon is at her full and riding high.
Floods the calm fields with light.
The airs that hover in the summer sky
Are all asleep tonight."
William C Bryant
As I stood there, admiring, I had the strongest urge to go out,
walk the streets of the village, wander through fields, sit in
gardens, to see if, like my character Clara in "Awakening", I could
become a nocturnal creature. Clara says, 'I have become quite adept
at making my way, swiftly but silently, though the dark
countryside. I've passed by fishermen, without them having any clue
of my presence. Keeping upwind of badgers, I've watched them play
and been close enough to join their games. I'd even seen roe deer
nursing their young and caused them no disquiet.
'The trick is complete concentration; to be totally in the
moment, aware of and receptive to everything around you: the flap
of wings approaching; the tiny scurrying form at your feet, the
scent of a dog fox. Try it some time. Clear your mind and let your
senses do their thing. It's wonderfully exciting, and at the same
time, quite calming, to become a creature of the night.'
I stayed where I was. I'm known for my eccentricities in these
parts but even so, I think the sight of me, in polka dot pyjamas,
wandering through my neighbours' gardens, might have resulted in
the police being summoned.
Lupe, incidentally, had no pressing, urgent need to go outside.
I think she, too, just wanted to bathe for a few moments in the
light of a full moon.
"I am tired, beloved, of chafing my heart against the want
of you; of squeezing it into little ink drops, and posting it. And
I scald alone, here, under the fire of the great moon." Amy
Lovell.