The Harvest Moon brightened up the night sky as soon as the sun set.
For several days before and after the full moon, the moon hangs in the sky like a great, glowing lantern and prolongs the light far after sunset. It rises about the time the sun sets, but more importantly, at this time of year, instead of rising at its normal average of 40 minutes later each day, the moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night.This results in an abundance of bright moonlight early in the evening, which was a traditional aide to farmers and crews harvesting their summer-grown crops. Hence, the name "Harvest" Moon.
Simply magical !
It is the Harvest Moon! On gilded vanes
And roofs of villages, on woodland crests
And their aerial neighborhoods of nests
Deserted, on the curtained window-panes
Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes
And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!
Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,
With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!
All things are symbols: the external shows
Of Nature have their image in the mind,
As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;
The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,
Only the empty nests are left behind,
And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
8 comments:
A wonderful time of the year. We have been watching the moon grow bigger and brighter too
A very atmospheric photo, but Henry is sounding rather depressed!
We have been watching the moon every night...
A beautiful tribute to the Harvest Moon - - and a wonderful photo. Unfortunately I couldn't see the moon because it was cloudy.
Beautiful picture! It feels like the official beginning of my favorite season!
It was a beautiful harvest moon here and lit up my whole bedroom.
Before I was born my dad was a poor farmer and he did pick his corn by hand under the harvest moon. I think of that when the night is so lighted by that fall full moon.
A perfect poem for your beautiful moon share. Thank you.
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