Thursday 16 June 2011

watching the eclipse


Watching the Eclipse
We sat and watched the bit of sky
We thought was where the moon would rise,
And talked of things, and listened to
The sheep bleat, and the cows go moo,
And blackbirds throwing songs from bushes
That echoed round the woods, their pauses
Taken by the songs of thrushes
-Wild, episodic notes. Dog roses,
Ragged in the after-rain,
Overhung the sunken lane.

And clouds slid by, so low that we,
From where we sat, could scarcely see
The radio mast there on Dundry,
Behind which was the moon, by now
Well risen, so my watch said, though
No hint of its eclipse we saw.
Only the horseshoe bats that flew
Around the ash tree where we sat.
And it was good.

And that was that.


(written for the eclipse in the middle of June, then removed because I entered it into a competition. Ha! Safe to come out at last.....)

5 comments:

  1. Well, we did see the clouds eclipsing the moon! Like the poem.

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  2. A reminder that looking can be as special as seeing ...

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  3. love the poem Dru! it was a good night to sit out despite the lack of aclipse

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  4. I like the poem. We saw watched it for about half an hour.

    Better luck with the next one

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  5. Thank you, everyone! It seems a pity to have taken the poem down, and a bit presumptuous of me to enter it into a comp, but it was on-topic and I did have the offer of a free entry... shall restore it in the fulness of time.

    Lucky you, Anji! I saw a lunar eclipse at sea once, on a clear night in the Western Approaches. Very striking, it was

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