written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Lunacy

00:00:00 Posted by Ashley Lister , , 1 comment

 by Cerridwen Lee

 Sylvia Plath once said, “This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary.”  She was describing the night’s lantern; the mysterious force that has created myths and legends, many a pagan deity, curiosity, worship and fear spanning… well… since mankind first set foot on this peculiar little world.

The moon has caused delight and fright in the scientists and the romantics of the world for as long as it has glimmered up there in the night’s starry sky. It had been said to govern the creatures that slink in the shadows it casts. I am sure everyone is familiar with vampirism and lycanthropy. Those myths still haunt the pages of modern books and minds. The moon, when full, is said to cause strange moods in people who otherwise are entirely normal, hence the term lunacy.

 In Blackpool where the street lamps, fireworks and the bellowing garbled cries of drunkards fill the air the moon may be all but forgotten. However, I heed a fair warning. With Halloween approaching, and a full moon hovering above you on the 29th, even Blackpool may not be immune to the powerful beams of the night’s ruler and the goings on that it watches. Ponder with me on what cannot be explained. What does happen within the shade of night?

Lunacy

Ponder with me on what cannot be explained,
Governed by the full veracious moon’s light,
What does happen within the shade of night?

What power can it have in its beautiful silver gleam?
When it turns full, what chaos does it invite?
Ponder with me on what cannot be explained.

Mystery rises from its ghostly round dream,
Reflected upon the trickling stream, glittering white,
What does happen within the shade of night?

The sun hands its power to a ghostly ash grey beam,
Giving merriment to the dancing woodland sprite,
Ponder with me on what cannot be explained.

Lunacy they call it when sanity loses its scheme,
Now what is it with the moon’s fullness that makes us want to bite?
What does happen within the shade of night?

What with all the myths and legends that have been?
That after all these years gives us a tingling fright.
Ponder with me on what cannot be explained
What does happen within the shade of night?

1 comments:

Adele said...

Exquisite Villanelle Ceri. I Love the darkness in your poem - Your language style is other-worldly and atmospheric.