La Luna

Early this morning I was out feeding the neighbour's birds (yeah, I'm the local sucker for punishment whenever someone decides to bugger off for the holidays) - and happened to look up.

There, glowing in the just-before-dawn light was the moon. Only a sickle of it shining, the rest of the orb just glowing gently. The sky was sprinkled liberally with pinpricks of stars - clear as a bell this morning.

Suddenly I had a flashback to my kid days. Summer in Zimbabwe was always hot, and often we'd go swimming at night in the municipal pool (no-one we knew was rich enough to possess either a home pool OR a tennis court! :) ). I can remember drifting down to the bottom of the pool, opening my eyes, and looking up through the milky-night water to the full moon above, swimming in a liquid sky.

I remember moon rainbow halos, thanks to an icy thin cloud somewhere up there - invisible but for that huge circle in the sky.

In boarding school I happened to glance out across the bay one morning. The sun was still asleep, the moon had already set. And yet there was a long, straight "moon glow" right across the bay - as if the moon hung on the horizon. But it didn't! So strange...

Hot, summer full moons, rising yellow and heat-wave rippled from the horizon. Cold blue winter moons, so sharp you could cut your finger on them. Storm-tossed moons streaking through grey and black scudding heavens.

There's something about that big clod of dust in the sky that's fascinating to us mere humans - and perhaps a good few beasts as well.

As I sit here in my office the sun is up and the sky a deep blue - and that sickle of almost-transparent moon hangs directly over the flag pole.