The Moon Reflects the Sun in Our Hearts

How lonely our nights would be without her light

Years ago, the moon was made of cheese — so my child-mind believed because when a grown-up tells you stuff, it must be true — not stuff and nonsense.

In my unfettered imagination, when that golden orb in the night sky revealed her full, round face beaming down at me, my little heart danced in delight.

Grown-ups had told me that looking directly at the sun would damage my eyes. Seeing the moon was a double surprise because I knew she was reflecting sunshine!

Then there was the story of a man on the moon.

I never spotted him but kept looking after I received my first prescription glasses for my short-sightedness. I never found him and decided perhaps he was shy and lived on the dark side of the moon.

The story of the man on the moon became reality in 1969 when Neil Armstrong from Earth took that one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind, which was easy because of the low gravity.

However, the barren, dusty landscape and craters in close-up didn’t conjure up the romantic images we earthlings were used to.

We learn at school that her gravitational pull creates the tides.

But as we grow and evolve into adulthood, we find her emotional pull more profound.

She remains mysterious from afar, appearing and disappearing, waxing and waning as earth, moon and sun weave and dance in their orbits, reminding us of the passing of the seasons — our anchor and guide.

When we gaze at her, we run no risk of ruining our eyes.

The gentle moonlight fills our hearts with feelings of awe and peace; reinforces our sense of connection to the infinite universe.

She symbolizes love.

A romantic hand-holding stroll in nature under the warm glow of moonlight garners that feeling of contentment and togetherness as you observe the soft light and shadows she creates among the trees.

I love to observe the changing light and sparkling colour spectrum of rays as she hides behind passing clouds, then reappears as the night sky clears again. Even if the clouds remain, you know she’s up there.

She comforts me when loved ones are far away. I can behold the moon in all her phases (except New Moon) and know that they can see her too.

When my husband and I were apart in different countries for six months, we would look at the full moon every month and connect our souls across thousands of miles. Comforting!

To this day, I have that arrangement with my nephew in the UK — we both look at the Full Moon and acknowledge our familial love.

Besides romance, the moon inspires poetry and music.

As a child, I watched the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) starring Audrey Hepburn, in which she sings Moon River. I have never forgotten that song — it was one of my dad’s favourites.

There are hundreds of songs about the moon — I don’t know them all but recall Blue Moon, Dancing in the Moonlight, Fly me to the Moon, Moonshadow, Shoot the Moon, Bad Moon Rising, Harvest Moon, Moondance and Walking on the Moon.

I shall leave you with a beautiful song by Annie Lennox — Fingernail Moon.

I hope the lyrics and piano accompaniment move you as much as they move me.

Thank you for being here — let’s look at the moon together!

I invite you to read these inspiring stories which caught my attention:

A photo-essay on the moon by William J Spirdione:

Do we worry more than we should? Tamil shares her personal story:

A big thank you Dr. Preeti Singh for this prompt about Mother Earth’s constant companion.