Harvest Moon, Shine On...

Normally, I write about manmade objects and this post is no exception. But instead of cursing my broken kitchen light, I praise the opportunity the darkened kitchen gave me to take notice of the glorious harvest moon. Have you seen it lately; a great, glowing lamp in the dark-blue sky, casting its lemony light upon us miserable, earth-bound denizens? No doubt some astronomer somewhere (Brian Cox, please!) could tell us all why the lunar disk is now appearing 10% larger than it has for many a day. It is probably something to do with the proximity of the autumn equinox in combo with unusual atmospheric conditions - or something sniffy like that. Whatever, the moon has inspired Beethoven to write Moonlight Sonata and drew forth the lovely and delicate Claire de Lune, from Claude Debussy while one of my favourite poems (by Walter de la Mare) runs slowly, silently now the moon walks the night in her silver shoon… This very week, Blue Jasmine, a movie by Woody Allen and starring Cate Blanchett, has just been released. The film tells the story of an unhappy woman whose favourite song is the evergreen Blue Moon (you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own…) In summary, the moon has inspired countless poems, songs and other works of art. It has appeared in paintings many times over (most notably by Joseph Wright of Derby), and was the subject of one of the earliest animated movies, Le Voyage Dans La Lune, by Georges Méliès – gracious, we have even been there. In a weird way, the moon is manmade. On that note, I bow out with one of my favourite autumn ballads….shine on, shine on, harvest moon, up in the sky…