Love and lunacy on full display in the winter sky – this is Venus making motions to kiss the moon on an early February evening. Winter has always held its enchanting delights if you know where and when to look for them. I’m not so well-informed, so this was a happy catch that I didn’t realize I made until after the fact. The Cowboy Junkies wrote a song about this scene for their album ‘Pale Sun, Crescent Moon’.
Reach a hand to the crescent moon
Grab hold of the hollow
If she sits in the palm of the left
That moon will be fuller tomorrow
If she sits in the palm of the right
That moon is on the wane
And the love of the one who shares your bed
Will be doing just the same
‘Won’t you come with me’, she said
‘there’s plenty of room in my iron bed
You’re looking cold and tired
And more than a little human
I know I’m not part of the life you had planned
But I think once your body feels my hand
Your mind will change
And your heart will lose its pain’
Lunacy and love, and years past have already swirled beneath our life bridge, long carried away by currents we caused and currents we could not control. Knowing moon, winking Venus, and the power and might of a winter’s night. Whatever bit of warmth that remains from a memory, whatever sees you through the dark, these are little prayers to which we cling.
Do I reach for you
When I know you’re on the wane?
Do I sense you when I know you’re not around?
Do I search for you
When I know you can’t be found?
Do I dare to speak your name?
Oh crescent moon, how we long for you to cradle us right now, lifting us up from this wretched planet if only for a night of comfort. Humans are reckless and relentless in their torment. What a lovely predicament to be as constant and removed from us as a heavenly body. Do you watch us from your lofty vantage point or are you wisely and sensibly tuned-out to all our awfulness? I wouldn’t blame you for either – I feel torn myself.
Raise your eyes to a moonless sky
And try to wish upon a rising star
Search all you want for her blessing
But you won’t find her sparkling there
Now cast your eyes to a part of the sky
Where nothing but darkness unfolds
And watch as all around you
She reveals the brilliance of secrets untold
