Moonrise on 26th May: strong colours! My friends’ daughter, hearing about it afterwards, asked her mother ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’ Witnessing such disappointment I sympathised; but I pointed out that what the press hype nowadays as “supermoons” aren’t too uncommon; also, that sleep is so important.
Next time I was walking along Marloes Sands, words started coming to me; as you can see from my roughs, it took some effort to arrive at the finished article – which doesn’t quite tell the original story. As for a tune…? Up to you!
COPPER MOON
3rd June 2021
Long spring evening, we’re gardening late:
Much to do in the month of May.
Wind has dropped, sky is clear:
Some birds asking for the stars to appear.
We both agree, ‘Soon time for bed!’
But then we look south-east and we stay instead…
Chorus
Copper Moon, Copper Moon:
Rising huge, glowing balloon!
Beautiful colour, wish it would stay –
In our memories it never fades away.
Upstairs our daughter is in her bed;
Do we wake that precious sleepy-head?
She loves all Nature, so keen to learn:
Eyes so bright, and a passion which burns.
But school is hard, and lessons are long:
Instead of waking her, we’ll write her a song about the
Chorus
Now it’s breakfast time, and the reckoning’s here:
Shoes on stairs, and our girl appears…
‘Cariad, please don’t be upset
Because yesterday evening you didn’t get
Woken up to see the lovely Copper Moon:
Have to hope there’ll be another one soon!’
Chorus
Holding our breath we count to eight,
Waiting for Rhianna to detonate;
But we can’t believe it for, after a while,
She breaks into a glorious smile:
‘Mum, Dad, waking me would have been mean:
Last night I was having wonderful dreams
About all the things we so adore,
Rainbows and sundogs and shooting stars,
And phosphorescent green sea-fires,
And sunfish and ospreys and orchid flowers!
So I don’t mind missing that Copper Moon:
I’ll cross my fingers for another one soon!
Chorus
© Christopher Jessop 2021
