THE MOON

 

THE MOON

Here is a very short but exceedingly beautiful poem “The Moon” written by William Henry Davies, a Welsh poet and writer, who spent most of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and the United States.  This negative aspect of his life did not prevent him from becoming a popular poet of his time with such great poems as Leisure, Come, Let us Find, A Fleeting Passion, A Plain Life and Truly Great.

A tramp is a homeless person who goes from place to place and does no regular work; likewise a hobo is an unemployed worker who wanders from place to place.

Davies was born on July 3, 1871 at Newport, Wales and died on September 26, 1940, at Nailsworth, England.

            His poem “The Moon” reads as follows:

Thy beauty haunts me, heart and soul,

Oh thou fair Moon, so close and bright;

Thy beauty makes me like the child,

That cries aloud to own thy light :

The little child that lifts each arm,

To press thee to his bosom warm.

 

Though there are birds that sing this night

With thy white beams across their throats,

Let my deep silence speak for me

More than for them their sweetest notes :

Who worships thee till music fails

Is greater than thy nightingales.

                                                            *******

G. R. Kanwal

4th September 2023