Tuesday night I went to bed early with a scratchy throat. I slept until about 2 am, and when I got up looked outside I saw a shimmery sheen on the trees surrounding our house. The sky was crystal clear, and the moon nearly full and directly overhead. The forest was bathed in silver, the leaves dancing in the moonlight.
I half-expected a character from a fairy tale or a Harry Potter book to come bounding out of the woods.
Is the moon closer to Charlottesville? Perhaps not. But you could not have convinced me of that the other night. And at least one of our local poets could make the case that the moon is closer. Elinor Roberts Hartt, a member of St. Paul's, sent me a lovely book of her poems, and the moon over Charlottesville is among her favorite topics. I plan to go see her today. Here is one of her poems...
THIS LONG NIGHT
By Elinor Roberts Hartt
The empty silence
this long night
can offer no protection
against that proud
highriding mystery
the moon's perfection.
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