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For millennia, the moon has been a potent symbol in literature, art, and religion.
But, researching the origins of moon symbolism reveals some unexpected insights into how poets, thinkers, and writers have perceived the moon.
While there has always been a great deal of symbolism associated with the moon, one of its most common representations in literature is simply love or lovesickness.
Just the sight or a mention of the moon can lighten up anyone’s heart. Don’t believe us? Check out these poems about the moon.
Here are our picks for moon poems!
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Famous Poems about the Moon
Moon rises tall and bright on the shore near the end of the ocean, pointing seafarers in the direction of the light. See its beauty being captured in some famous poems about the moon.
1. The Moon
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
2. If The Moon Came From Heaven
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
If the moon came from heaven,
Talking all the way,
What could she have to tell us,
And what could she say?
‘I’ve seen a hundred pretty things,
And seen a hundred gay;
But only think: I peep by night
And do not peep by day!’
3. The Moon
by Emily Dickinson
The moon was but a chin of gold
A night or two ago,
And now she turns her perfect face
Upon the world below.
Her forehead is of amplest blond;
Her cheek like beryl stone;
Her eye unto the summer dew
The likest I have known.
Her lips of amber never part;
But what must be the smile
Upon her friend she could bestow
Were such her silver will!
And what a privilege to be
But the remotest star!
For certainly her way might pass
Beside your twinkling door.
Her bonnet is the firmament,
The universe her shoe,
The stars the trinkets at her belt,
Her dimities of blue.
4. Broadway Moon
by Luella Stewart
The moon was misty last night—
It hung in the sombre sky
Like a wistful wondering eye
Or a sad wraith that slips from sight.
But the lights on the Joyous Way
Shone brighter than moon or star,
High up where the Mint Men are
And the Kitten and Spool at play!
And so, if you wept, old Moon,
If grief was your mantle gray,
Why, what is the moon to Broadway?
(A rhyme for a jazz-time tune—
June, croon, spoon, soon!)—
And what is Broadway—to the Moon?
5. Golden Moonrise
by William Stanley Braithwaite
When your eyes gaze seaward
Piercing through the dim
Slow descending nightfall,
On the outer rim
Where the deep blue silence
Touches sky and sea,
Hast thou seen the golden
Moon, rise silently?
Seen the great battalions
Of the stars grow pale —
Melting in the magic
Of her silver veil?
I have seen the wonder,
I have felt the balm
Of the golden moonrise
Turn to silver calm.
6. Sailing To-Night
by Anonymous
There’s a ship on the sea. It is sailing to-night—
Sailing to-night;—
And father’s aboard, and the moon is all bright—
Shining and bright.
Dear Moon, he’ll be sailing for many a night—
Sailing from mother and me;
Oh, follow the ship with your silvery light,
As father sails over the sea!
7. Amidst The Flowers A Jug of Wine
by Li Po
Amidst the flowers a jug of wine,
I pour alone lacking companionship.
So raising the cup I invite the Moon,
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.
Because the Moon does not know how to drink,
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body.
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while,
The practice of mirth should keep pace with spring.
I start a song and the moon begins to reel,
I rise and dance and the shadow moves grotesquely.
While I’m still conscious let’s rejoice with one another,
After I’m drunk let each one go his way.
Let us bind ourselves for ever for passionless journeyings.
Let us swear to meet again far in the Milky Way.
8. Moonlight on the Sea
by Ruby Archer
A boat of magic is the moon,
Bearing through depth serene
Fair secrets learned of upturned eyes.
The boat lets fall a chain
With glittering silver anchor down
Before our seething prow,
Along the water quivering,—
That brilliant, subtle chain.
At last the silent anchor drops
Adown the furling waves.
Or is it ladder all of pearl,
From sea to heaven aglow,
Whereon our yearning thoughts may find
Even the infinite?
Or large white fingers of the night,
Nocturnes tender playing
On the yielding billow-keys,—
Lingering andante?
Or are the tripping moonbeans wild
Souls of sunbeams dead,
Dancing to the night-wind’s flute,
In eerie revelry?
Or is the toiling sea athirst,
Quaffing moonlight cool,
Freely poured into the waves’
Goblets held on high?
Drink not deeply, Ocean,
Of that mystic white!
It hath wondrous, witching power,
Untold sorcery,
And will make thee faint and reel,—
Sink to spells—and dreams.
Beautiful Poems about the Moon
Moon has an undeniable celestial beauty. Anyone who stares at it is mesmerized by the sight of it. You will see that being described artfully in these beautiful poetries about the moon.
1. The Queen of Night
by Bliss Carman
Mortal, mortal, have you seen
In the scented summer night,
Great Astarte, clad in green
With a veil of mystic light,
Passing on her silent way,
Pale and lovelier than day?
Mortal, mortal, have you heard,
On an odorous summer eve,
Rumors of an unknown word
Bidding sorrow not to grieve,—
Echoes of a silver voice
Bidding every heart rejoice?
Mortal, when the slim new moon
Hangs above the western hill,
When the year comes round to June
And the leafy world is still,
Then, enraptured, you shall hear
Secrets for a poet’s ear.
Mortal, mortal, come with me,
When the moon is rising large,
Through the wood or from the sea,
Or by some lone river marge.
There, entranced, you shall behold
Beauty’s self, that grows not old.
2. Moonrise
by Bliss Carman
At the end of the road through the wood
I see the great moon rise.
The fields are flooded with shine,
And my soul with surmise.
What if that mystic orb
With her shadowy beams,
Should be the revealer at last
Of my darkest dreams!
What if this tender fire
In my heart’s deep hold
Should be wiser than all the lore
Of the sages of old!
3. Autumn River Song
by Li Po
The moon shimmers in green water.
White herons fly through the moonlight.
The young man hears a girl gathering water-chestnuts:
into the night, singing, they paddle home together.
4. A Fairy Song
by William Shakespeare
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire!
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
5. To the Moon Beams
by Hannah Flagg Gould
Away, away, from her favorite bower,
Where ye loved to come in the evening hour,
To silver the leaf, to smile on the flower,
And checker the scene so playfully!
Away, away! for the maid ye seek
Hath a darkened eye, and a pale, pale cheek!
As the lonely walk and the flowers all speak,
While they hang their heads so mournfully!
Away! for the voice ye used to win,
With its soft, rich melody formed within,
Is hushed—’t is gone, as it never had been
Poured out so sweet and feelingly!
And the fearful harp, that ye could make
Its deepest and tenderest notes awake,
Now hath not a string but it fain would break,
They lie so lorn and listlessly!
Away, to the slope of the dew-bright hill;
Where the sod is fresh, and the air is chill;
Where the marble is white, and all is still,
O’er beauty sleeping peacefully!
But never reveal who there is led
By your light to weep o’er her lowly bed,
That a spirit so pure from the earth hath fled,
And to sigh for her loss unceasingly!
6. Under the April Moon
by Bliss Carman
Oh, well the world is dreaming
Under the April moon,
Her soul in love with beauty,
Her senses all a-swoon!
Pure hangs the silver crescent
Above the twilight wood,
And pure the silver music
Wakes from the marshy flood.
O Earth, with all thy transport,
How comes it life should seem
A shadow in the moonlight,
A murmur in a dream?
7. The Moon
by Henry David Thoreau
The full-orbed moon with unchanged ray
Mounts up the eastern sky,
Not doomed to these short nights for aye,
But shining steadily.
She does not wane, but my fortune,
Which her rays do not bless,
My wayward path declineth soon,
But she shines not the less.
And if she faintly glimmers here,
And paled is her light,
Yet alway in her proper sphere
She’s mistress of the night.
Poems about the Moon and Love
You must have spent many hours gazing at the moon if you are a lover of the night sky. Moon and love go hand in hand as it is often used as a symbol of an unattainable lover in poetries about moon and love.
1. The Moon Maiden’s Song
Sleep! Cast thy canopy
Over this sleeper’s brain,
Dim grow his memory,
When he awake again.
Love stays a summer night,
Till lights of morning come;
Then takes her wing’d flight
Back to her starry home.
Sleep! Yet thy days are mine;
Love’s seal is over thee:
Far though my ways from thine,
Dim though thy memory.
Love stays a summer night,
Till lights of morning come;
Then takes her winged flight
Back to her starry home.
2. The New Moon
by Langston Hughes
There’s a new, young moon riding the hills tonight;
There’s a sprightly, young moon exploring the clouds;
There’s a half-shy, young moon veiling her face like a virgin,
Waiting for her lover.
3. Moonlight
by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
The fifers of these amethystine fields,
Whose far fine sound the night makes musical,
Now while thou wak’st and longing would’st recall
Joys that no rapture of remembrance yields,
Voice to thy soul, lone-sitting deep within
The still recesses of thine ecstasy,
My love and my desire, that fain would fly
With this far-silvering moon and fold thee in.
But not for us the touch, the clasp, the kiss,
And for our restlessness no rest. In vain
These aching lips, these hungering hearts that strain
Toward the denied fruition of our bliss,
Had love not learned of longing to devise
Out of desire and dream our paradise.
4. Endymion
by Oscar Wilde
The apple trees are hung with gold,
And birds are loud in Arcady,
The sheep lie bleating in the fold,
The wild goat runs across the wold,
But yesterday his love he told,
I know he will come back to me.
O rising moon! O Lady moon!
Be you my lover’s sentinel,
You cannot choose but know him well,
For he is shod with purple shoon,
You cannot choose but know my love,
For he a shepherd’s crook doth bear,
And he is soft as any dove,
And brown and curly is his hair.
The turtle now has ceased to call
Upon her crimson-footed groom,
They grey wolf prowls about the stall,
The lily’s singing seneschal
Sleeps in the lily-bell, and all
The violet hills are lost in gloom.
O risen moon! O holy moon!
Stand on the tope of Helice,
And if my own true love you see,
Ah! if you see the purple shoon,
The hazel crook, the lad’s brown hair,
The goat-skin wrapped about his arm,
Tell him that I am waiting where
The rushlight glimmers in the Farm.
The falling dew is cold and chill,
And no bird sings in Arcady,
The little fauns have left the hill,
Even the tired daffodil
Has closed its gilded doors, and still
My lover comes not back to me.
False moon! False moon! O waning moon!
Where is my own true lover gone,
Where are the lips vermilion,
The shepherd’s crook, the purple shoon?
Why spread that silver pavilion,
Why wear that veil of drifting mist?
Ah! thou hast young Endymion,
Thou hast the lips that should be kissed!
5. Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known
by William Wordsworth
Strange fits of passion have I known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the lover’s ear alone,
What once to me befell.
When she I loved looked every day
Fresh as a rose in June,
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening-moon.
Upon the moon I fixed my eye,
All over the wide lea;
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me.
And now we reached the orchard-plot;
And, as we climbed the hill,
The sinking moon to Lucy’s cot
Came near, and nearer still.
In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature’s gentlest boon!
And all the while my eye I kept
On the descending moon.
My horse moved on; hoof after hoof
He raised, and never stopped:
When down behind the cottage roof,
At once, the bright moon dropped.
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover’s head!
‘O mercy!’ to myself I cried,
‘If Lucy hould be dead!’
6. Moonlight
by Walter De La Mare
The far moon maketh lovers wise
In her pale beauty trembling down,
Lending curved cheeks, dark lips, dark eyes,
A strangeness not her own.
And, though they shut their lids to kiss,
In starless darkness peace to win,
Even on that secret world from this
Her twilight enters in.
Short Poems about the Moon
If you enjoy poetry but have a short attention span you might struggle with reading long pieces of literature. These short moon poems are beautiful and convenient to read at the same time.
1. Moonrise at Sea
by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Up from the dark the moon begins to creep;
And now a pallid, haggard face lifts she
Above the water-line: thus from the deep
A drownéd body rises solemnly.
2. The Early Morning
by Hilaire Belloc
The moon on the one hand, the dawn on the other:
The moon is my sister, the dawn is my brother.
The moon on my left and the dawn on my right.
My brother, good morning: my sister, good night.
3. A Spy
by John B. Tabb
Sighed the languid Moon to the Morning Star:
“O little maid, how late you are!”
“I couldn’t rise from my couch,” quoth she,
“While the Man-in-the-Moon was looking at me.”
4. The Moon and I
by Annette Wynne
We played a game—the moon and I,
The moon was laughing in the sky,
I spied her, too, and called aloud,
But still she hid behind a cloud.
5. Each That We Lose Takes Part of Us
by Emily Dickinson
Each that we lose takes part of us;
A crescent still abides,
Which like the moon, some turbid night,
Is summoned by the tides.
6. Moon-Shadows
by Adelaide Crapsey
Still as
On windless nights
The moon-cast shadows are,
So still will be my heart when I
Am dead.
7. O Lady Moon
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the east:
Shine, be increased;
O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the west:
Wane, be at rest.
8. Above the Dock
by T. E. Hulme
Above the quiet dock in mid night,
Tangled in the tall mast’s corded height,
Hangs the moon. What seemed so far away
Is but a child’s balloon, forgotten after play.
Long Poems about the Moon
On the contrary, if you are a true poetry lover who can go on and on reading one piece after another, you can check out the long moon poems that we have picked especially for you!
1. The Moon Upon the Spire
by Hannah Flagg Gould
The full-orbed moon has reached no higher,
Than yon old church’s mossy spire;
And seems, as gliding up the air,
She saw the lane; and, pausing there,
Would worship, in the tranquil night,
The Prince of peace—the Source of light,
Where man for God prepared the place,
And God to man unveils his face.
Her tribute all around is seen,
She bends, and worships like a queen!
Her robe of light and beaming crown,
In silence, she is casting down;
And, as a creature of the earth,
She feels her lowliness of birth—
Her weakness and inconstancy
Before unchanging purity!
Pale traveller, on thy lonely way,
‘T is well thine homage thus to pay;
To reverence that ancient pile,
And spread thy silver o’er the aisle,
Which many a pious foot has trod,
That now is dust beneath the sod;
Where many a sacred tear was wept,
From eyes that long in death have slept!
The temple’s builders—where are they?
The worshippers?—all passed away,
Who came the first, to offer there
The song of praise, the heart of prayer!
Man’s generation passes soon;
It wanes and changes like the moon.
He rears the perishable wall;
But, ere it crumbles, he must fall!
And does he sink to rise no more?
Has he no part to triumph o’er
The pallid king?—no spark, to save
From darkness, ashes and the grave?
Thou holy place, the answer, wrought
In thy firm structure, bars the thought!
The spirit that established thee,
Nor death, nor darkness e’er shall see!
2. The Failing Moon
by Alice Corbin Henderson
Last night I saw the failing moon
Scatter its petals through the sky,
And all the heavenly gardens shook,
As though a wind went by,
And all the petals of the sea
Cast upward on the pulsing sand,
Were white as at the touch of death,
That nothing can withstand;
Throughout the whole world, sick with dread,
Swiftly an aching pallor ran;
The world was dead, dead—all was dead
Since first slow time began.
That loving face Earth used to wear
Midst tender green and blue of flowers,
Of mortal fairness, mortal sweet,
Was but a dream of ours;
A childish fantasy of play
That turns to life some happy spot,
Thereafter dead, as long before—
The brightness lingers not.
For here beneath my trembling feet,
Earth’s face shows lifeless, overcast
With shadows of some dreaming world,
Prophetic, or long past;
Some other dream, some other world
Gave life and passion birth,
And ours it is to love and live
And perish with the earth.
Ah, long ago, who was it cast
A thought into the void of space
That made the earth and made the stars
And made each little place
Aflame with life, and then forgot,
As children in a race,
That now we wait, as some old house,
For a familiar face?
3. Waiting—Afield at Dusk
by Robert Frost
What things for dream there are when spectre-like,
Moving among tall haycocks lightly piled,
I enter alone upon the stubble field,
From which the laborers’ voices late have died,
And in the antiphony of afterglow
And rising full moon, sit me down
Upon the full moon’s side of the first haycock
And lose myself amid so many alike.
I dream upon the opposing lights of the hour,
Preventing shadow until the moon prevail;
I dream upon the night-hawks peopling heaven,
Each circling each with vague unearthly cry,
Or plunging headlong with fierce twang afar;
And on the bat’s mute antics, who would seem
Dimly to have made out my secret place,
Only to lose it when he pirouettes,
And seek it endlessly with purblind haste;
On the last swallow’s sweep; and on the rasp
In the abyss of odor and rustle at my back,
That, silenced by my advent, finds once more,
After an interval, his instrument,
And tries once—twice—and thrice if I be there;
And on the worn book of old-golden song
I brought not here to read, it seems, but hold
And freshen in this air of withering sweetness;
But on the memory of one absent most,
For whom these lines when they shall greet her eyes.
4. Moonlight
by John Jay Chapman
The evening air exhales a spicy scent,
The robin warbles, and the thrush replies;
And on the terrace a tall regiment
Of lillies and of larkspur seem to rise
In the last glow of the transparent skies,
And shed a radiance hitherto unseen.
Distant, and yet distinct, come joyous cries
And twilight echoes, few and far between,—
Children at play,—dogs barking,—fairies on the green.
II
The shadows deepen; in the bushy lanes
The fireflies brighten and the crickets cheep:
And hark, an owl! how dolorous the strains,
At which the field-mouse to his bed doth creep.
The birds, the trees, the flowers have dropped to sleep;
The noises from the village float no more;
Night doth enwrap the world in slumber deep.
And while upon reposeful gloom we pore,
Behold, a ghostly glow that was not there before!
III
Slowly, with laboring steps, doth she emerge:
Like a stout shallop in the foaming seas
She holds her prow against the fleecy surge,
And steers between the cliffs of giant trees,
Rounding the headlands, winning by degrees,
Till she outpours the fulness of her beam,
Unrolling all her silver treasuries
On hamlet, plain, and mountain, farm and stream,
With inky shadows that make light more glorious seem.
IV
Reason dissolves in moonlight; for the moon,
Passing the porch of man’s dilated eyes,
Doth cast him straight into a kind of swoon:
She, while the wretch in a delirium lies,
Unveils her passions, longings, rhapsodies,—
Shows him a crystal sea that floods the space
Between the darkling earth and liquid skies;
And bids him enter her cool resting-place
That clasps the whole of nature in one bright embrace.
V
She would persuade him it is everywhere,
Disguised beneath the blaze of Phœbus’ ray,
Alive in the illuminated air,
Imprisoned in the glamour of the day,—
Which by her art she weaves and shreds away,
Using such magic that each blade of grass,
Bush, mead and brake her potency betray,
Yea, stand like sentinels to watch her pass,
And toward her naked truth hold up earth’s looking-glass.
VI
Alas, in vain she reasons; men reply
That Phœbus gave her all the wealth she had,
And clepe her sacred wisdom sorcery:
Those who believe her are accounted mad.
And therefore is her visage ever sad;
And as she climbs she suffers, for she feels
The arrows of the over-weening lad
Falling in deadly showers at her heels.
She fears the lightning of those ever-burning wheels.
VII
Yet in her flight she leaves her realm behind
To poets and to lovers, whose wide eyes,
Dilated by the moonlight of the mind,
See every object in a mad disguise,—
Within a tide between the earth and skies;
And every common bank or brook or flower
To their ecstatic questioning replies,
Glows, throbs and moves with a mysterious power,—
As in a moonlit garden at the trysting hour.
5. The Young Setting Moon
by Hannah Flagg Gould
The fair, young moon in a silver bow,
Looks back from the bending west,
Like a weary soul, that is glad to go
To the long-sought place of rest.
Her crescent lies in a beaming crown
On the distant hill’s dark head,
Serene as the righteous looking down
On the world, from his dying bed.
Her rays, to our view, grow few and faint.
Her light is at last withdrawn;
And she, like the calmly departing saint,
To her far-off home is gone.
O! what could have made the moon so bright
Till her work for the earth was done?
‘T was the glory drawn from a purer light—
From the face of the radiant sun!
For she on her absent king could look,
Whom the world saw not the while;
Her face from his all its beauty took—
She conveyed to the world his smile.
By him, through night has the moon been led
‘Mid the clouds that crossed the sky,
While she drew her beams o’er the earth to shed,
From the god where she fixed her eye.
And thus does Faith ‘mid her trials, view
In the God to whom she clings
A SUN, whose glories for ever new,
Unfold in his healing wings.
‘T is He, who will guide our course aright
Though grief overcloud the heart;
And it is but faith being lost in sight
When the good from the earth depart!
Poems about the Moon That Rhyme
If you love poems that rhyme, you are in for a treat my friend! Because these rhyming poems about the moon not only describe the grace of a moon but are also super catchy with a rhyme scheme.
1. A Night Thought
by William Wordsworth
Lo! where the Moon along the sky
Sails with her happy destiny;
Oft is she hid from mortal eye
Or dimly seen,
But when the clouds asunder fly
How bright her mien!
Far different we–a froward race,
Thousands though rich in Fortune’s grace
With cherished sullenness of pace
Their way pursue,
Ingrates who wear a smileless face
The whole year through.
If kindred humours e’er would make
My spirit droop for drooping’s sake,
From Fancy following in thy wake,
Bright ship of heaven!
A counter impulse let me take
And be forgiven.
2. The Moon
by Oliver Herford
The Moon is like a big round cheese
That shines above the garden trees,
And like a cheese grows less each night,
As though some one had had a bite.
The Mouse delights to nibble cheese,
The Dog bites anything he sees–
But how could they bite off the Moon
Unless they went in a balloon?
And Human People, when they eat
They think it rude to bite their meat,
They use a Knife or Fork or Spoon;
Who is it then that bites the moon?
3. The New Moon
by Sara Teasdale
Day, you have bruised and beaten me,
As rain beats down the bright, proud sea,
Beaten my body, bruised my soul,
Left me nothing lovely or whole—
Yet I have wrested a gift from you,
Day that dies in dusky blue:
For suddenly over the factories
I saw a moon in the cloudy seas—
A wisp of beauty all alone
In a world as hard and gray as stone—
Oh who could be bitter and want to die
When a maiden moon wakes up in the sky?
4. To The Moon Rising Above the Waters
by Eliza and Sarah Wolcott
Fair orb of eve, I view thee o’er the sea,
While the proud waters kiss the radiant beam;
Full, independent in thy course, thou’rt free—
Rising like virtue, pure, in high esteem.
Thou’rt unconfin’d to seas, or distant flood,
High o’er the wilderness, thy visit pay,
Where never voice or human footsteps trod,—
Impartial beams, o’er nature’s gifts display.
I love to see thee, in the evening gray,
Encircled round with stars of sparkling gold;
I love to gaze upon thy parting ray,
When silent sleep pervades the busy world.
And then to wake at midnight’s solemn hour,
When thoughts of death, and judgment yet to come,
Steal o’er the soul, with sweet persuasive power—
Leading the mind to her eternal home.
And then to gaze upon thee, Queen of Night,
Rolling in silence o’er thy lonely way,
Where countless stars, beyond thy borrow’d light,
Are dimly twinkling through thy mazy ray.
The muse, delighted in her lonely flight,
Imagination soars from height to height,
To unseen worlds, of far superior light,
Where heavenly visions greet, with new delight.
There on sublimer themes, my muse shall turn,
While thoughts in holy meditations rove;—
There deep devotion’s lighted lamp shall burn,
And all the sacred passions sweetly move.
5. The Difference
by Thomas Hardy
Sinking down by the gate I discern the thin moon,
And a blackbird tries over old airs in the pine,
But the moon is a sorry one, sad the bird’s tune,
For this spot is unknown to that Heartmate of mine.
Did my Heartmate but haunt here at times such as now,
The song would be joyous and cheerful the moon;
But she will see never this gate, path, or bough,
Nor I find a joy in the scene or the tune.
6. Wave-Music
by Ruby Archer
Waves, when learned ye your rhythm?
Ye tides, your time?
When the All-Father set
The worlds a-chime
Like tunéd bells, and all was harmony,
From cycling spheres to atoms none may see?
Or does My Lady Moon
Hold you in leash,
Weirdly recurrent theme
Of her caprice—
A wild grotesque of mammoth frolicking
Whose only bound infinitude may bring?
7. The Song of the Moon
by Alice Corbin Henderson
Clouds like the petals of a rose,
Open slowly and disclose
The golden heart of the moon;
The waves grow soft upon the sand,
The wind dies down upon the land,
Beauty and silence weave a tune
Out of the petals of the moon.
Over the breasts of waves,
Her petals fall;
Silvery crested billows
Meet and melt in her soft embrace;
Pale and proud as a woman, her face
Shines through the misty willows.
O golden heart of the moon!
Whispers the leafy tune;
And the ·pine-trees tall
Reach high and call
Till over them lightly as soft as day,
Or rose-colored blossoms of the May,
Over the pine-trees dark and tall,
The golden petals fall.
Poems about the Moon for Kids
Just like adults, kids are also fascinated by the shine of the moon. As an added bonus through poetry, they can also learn new words, like in this collection of easy moon poetry for kindergarten children.
1. The Kind Moon
by Sara Teasdale
I think the moon is very kind
To take such trouble just for me.
He came along with me from home
To keep me company.
He went as fast as I could run;
I wonder how he crossed the sky?
I’m sure he hasn’t legs and feet
Or any wings to fly.
Yet here he is above their roof;
Perhaps he thinks it isn’t right
For me to go so far alone,
Tho’ mother said I might.
2. Let’s All Go to The Moon
by H. G. Dowless
We once sang a sweet song in the merry month of June,
“Oh Come With Me To The Valley Of The Moon!”
We shall travel about in clothes of golden sand,
If you will just give me your precious little hand.
Oh come now, let’s go to the moon!
In those shaded craters, we shall forever swing,
From a beautiful hand-stitched hammock that I thought to bring!
Can you come with me to the valley of the moon?
A funny image of the Moon
In the sands of shining gold, we’ll all happily dance,
Where only sunbeams and angels have pranced!
We will sit about in the cool shade and shadows,
Eating manna from the fairies in the valleys!
Oh please now come to the moon!
Oh..can you see…there,
My dear child, oh look!
Where the old man’s left eye is, we will be!
All of us forever merry, like a portrait in a book!
Oh please now, let’s go to the moon!
Yes you, yes me,
All of us and the whole family,
Do come now, let’s go away soon!
3. A Full Moon
by Anonymous
A full moon is like you and me,
One half for you the other for me
A full moon is like moon cheese,
Yes, yes, yes, I love moon cheese
A full moon is like a dinner plate,
With chocolate pudding and strawberry cake
A full moon is like you and me,
Together let’s have moon glee.
4. Pretty New Moon, Little New Moon
by Evaleen Stein
Pretty new moon, little new moon
Now, as first I look at you
I must make a wish, for wise folks
Say its surely will become true!
Little new moon, pretty new moon
I wish but i must not tell
For if anyone should hear it
Wise folks say, it breaks the spell!
5. Up High the Moon
by Anonymous
Up high the moon smiles,
glow sticks on its face,
the crystal ball that
predicts the future,
of the day to come.
Up high there’s a torch,
and a banana,
slowly but surely,
orbiting the Earth.
Up high sometimes it’s
full, sometimes it’s half,
sometimes it’s empty,
each day it changes.
Up high there’s a moon,
so far, yet so close.
Poems about the Moon and Ocean
The moon and the ocean have been often seen as two lovers trying to unite with each other. This relationship has been depicted in poetry by various authors which you shall observe in the poem shared below.
1. Humanity
by White Wolf
Shadow not over the words of love
Love is a language known only to the heart
Hear it in the wind and the birds above
Paint it on a canvas skin and call it art
Eternal beauty walks among us all
Seekers of knowledge may know its name
But true wisdom lies in hearing its call
As the oceans cause the moon to wane
Its gentle touch, abundantly crystalline
Euphoric in nature, its secret is kept
With its healing powers all part divine
Though many an angel from love has wept
Compassion and caring, make love’s trinity
And kindness a guide that leads to bliss
So make love your one and true reality
For you are worth much more than this
2. The Moon Is Distant From The Sea
by Emily Dickinson
The moon is distant from the sea,
And yet with amber hands
She leads him, docile as a boy,
Along appointed sands.
He never misses a degree;
Obedient to her eye,
He comes just so far toward the town,
Just so far goes away.
Oh, Signor, thine the amber hand,
And mine the distant sea, —
Obedient to the least command
Thine eyes impose on me.
3. The Mother Moon
by Louisa May Alcott
He moon upon the wide sea
Placidly looks down,
Smiling with her mild face,
Though the ocean frown.
Clouds may dim her brightness,
But soon they pass away,
And she shines out, unaltered,
O’er the little waves at play.
So ‘mid the storm or sunshine,
Wherever she may go,
Led on by her hidden power
The wild see must plow.
As the tranquil evening moon
Looks on that restless sea,
So a mother’s gentle face,
Little child, is watching thee.
Then banish every tempest,
Chase all your clouds away,
That smoothly and brightly
Your quiet heart may play.
Let cheerful looks and actions
Like shining ripples flow,
Following the mother’s voice,
Singing as they go.
4. Magical Moonlight
by Jan Allison
I
love
walking
at midnight
as moonlight shadows
dance on the inky blue ocean
and watch as they sparkle and shimmer like tiny stars,
pirouetting gracefully like prima ballerinas with the ocean as their stage.
5. A Shining Star
by Lisa Ricci
a shining star you shall always be
a jewel in the cosmos that I see
like the snow that glistens white
like the moon that shines bright
you bring out the best in me
when you stand before the ocean blue
feel a gentle embrace intended just for you
when you see a pearl or shell in the sand
know it is me taking you by the hand
know your heart and soul will renew
a grand piano or a single guitar
a source of strength from afar
with words that I have none to give
with hope and love may light live
a shining star is what you are
6. Painting Love
by Andrea Dietrich
How many images can I paint more
than I’ve already done? Like nights moon-lit
or meadow-dancing? You – whom I adore –
in every love scene – you’re the star of it.
The many colors! Oh, each brilliant hue.
I splashed them giddily when we shared bliss.
I’ve given sunsets, snow and spring to you –
Sweet passion’s words for you, Dear, and a kiss
I’ve always left down on the corner of
each canvas in our life, for there’s no me
without you, and there’s nothing but our love
to get us through, and sometimes tragedy
I’ve painted too – deep ocean’s blue – yet still,
I’ll paint you always lovely with my quill.
7. When The Moon Meets the Sea
by Anonymous
When the moon meets the Sea..
Its a reminiscence of you & me..
Joining inside the dawn & dusky skies with a passionate but momentary kiss..
The glare from your skin is a reflection of the moonlight.. a sight you can’t miss.
And while my feelings are sometimes as still as lake waters.. You turn me into oceans and I erupt in waves..
Depending on your moon phase..
Ascending which way my moods take..
I am the sea..
You are my moon, seeing the sea inside of me..
Surrounded by the sounds of swift winds.. you nurture my wishes to replenish all who seek balance..
While everyone depends on me, you bring salvage..
Never asking me for a thing, only to be close.. only to be valid.
Only to bring light in the darkest hour..
The love you bring is the gravitational pull.. that higher power.
So when the moon meets the Sea…
Its always.. always.. a reminiscence of you & me.
Poems about the Moon and Stars
A moon might look divine among the stars but in poetry, it is also seen as a sad portrayal of the loneliness the moon endures. How beautifully melancholic, right? Let’s check out some poems depicting these celestial beings.
1. Ah, Moon and Star!
by Emily Dickinson
Ah, Moon—and Star!
You are very far—
But were no one
Farther than you—
Do you think I’d stop
For a Firmament—
Or a Cubit—or so?
I could borrow a Bonnet
Of the Lark—
And a Chamois’ Silver Boot—
And a stirrup of an Antelope—
And be with you—Tonight!
But, Moon, and Star,
Though you’re very far—
There is one—farther than you—
He—is more than a firmament—from Me—
So I can never go!
2. Dusk in Autumn
by Sara Teasdale
The moon is like a scimitar,
A little silver scimitar,
A-drifting down the sky.
And near beside it is a star,
A timid twinkling golden star,
That watches likes an eye.
And thro’ the nursery window-pane
The witches have a fire again,
Just like the ones we make,—
And now I know they’re having tea,
I wish they’d give a cup to me,
With witches’ currant cake.
3. Evening Star
by Edgar Allan Poe
‘Twas noontide of summer,
And mid-time of night;
And stars, in their orbits,
Shone pale, thro’ the light
Of the brighter, cold moon,
‘Mid planets her slaves,
Herself in the Heavens,
Her beam on the waves.
I gazed awhile
On her cold smile;
Too cold- too cold for me-
There pass’d, as a shroud,
A fleecy cloud,
And I turned away to thee,
Proud Evening Star,
In thy glory afar,
And dearer thy beam shall be;
For joy to my heart
Is the proud part
Thou bearest in Heaven at night,
And more I admire
Thy distant fire,
Than that colder, lowly light.
4. Moon
by Henry Rowe
Thee too, modest tressèd maid,
When thy fallen stars appear;
When in lawn of fire array’d
Sov’reign of yon powder’d sphere;
To thee I chant at close of day,
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray.
Throned in sapphired ring supreme,
Pregnant with celestial juice,
On silver wing thy diamond stream
Gives what summer hours produce;
While view’d impearl’d earth’s rich inlay,
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray.
Glad, pale Cynthian wine I sip,
Breathed the flow’ry leaves among;
Draughts delicious wet my lip;
Drown’d in nectar drunk my song;
While tuned to Philomel the lay,
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray.
Dew, that od’rous ointment yields,
Sweets, that western winds disclose,
Bathing spring’s more purpled fields,
Soft ‘s the band that winds the rose;
While o’er thy myrtled lawns I stray
Beneath, O maiden Moon! thy ray.
5. The Stars and the Moon
by Grace Schulman
Scaling ladders with buckets of white enamel,
I painted the stars and the moon on my windowpanes
to hold back days and nights. I yanked the telephone
and stopped the wooden clock. The weeks a lightning stroke,
desire turned to love. With my blue diamond,
I sliced minutes in half and made days vanish,
fooling the hours.
I became so skillful
at firmaments that miracles occurred:
a bearded comet moved across the room
breeding no omens, tearing no major kingdoms
into small provinces, but there it was,
reminding us that rock may spin and flare,
lifting the senses, burning into sight.
You eased pale hands away; I saw your shoulders
recede through doorways, watched your image fail
with your famished smile. I left our room
with dream-filled eyes, and standing in the sun,
I gazed at bricks and glass and saw, suddenly,
flashing in stony light, the stars and the moon.
6. To the Moon
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing Heaven, and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth,—
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?
7. The Crescent Moon
by Amy Lowell
Slipping softly through the sky
Little horned, happy moon,
Can you hear me up so high?
Will you come down soon?
On my nursery window-sill
Will you stay your steady flight?
And then float away with me
Through the summer night?
Brushing over tops of trees,
Playing hide and seek with stars,
Peeping up through shiny clouds
At Jupiter or Mars.
I shall fill my lap with roses
Gathered in the milky way,
All to carry home to mother.
Oh! what will she say!
Little rocking, sailing moon,
Do you hear me shout — Ahoy!
Just a little nearer, moon,
To please a little boy.
Poems about the Moon and the Sun
In poetry, both the sun and the moon have been seen as divine counterparts. The moon however connotes the loving and kind side of nature and the sun symbolizes its mighty wrath. Here are some poems on the moon and the sun.
1. The Sun and the Moon
by Nikita Gill
Aim for a love
that reminds you
of the devotion
the sun has to the moon.
Whether she is in fractions
or she is whole,
he still shrouds his intense light
in the darkness of the night.
To give her the entire sky,
without judgment,
so she can shine in any way she wants to.
You deserve someone
who adores you
on the days you are
in broken fragments too.
You deserve someone
who lets you glow
in every way
you need to.
2. Moon, So Round and Yellow
by Matthias Barr
Moon, so round and yellow,
Looking from on high,
How I love to see you
Shining in the sky.
Oft and oft I wonder,
When I see you there,
How they get to light you,
Hanging in the air:
Where you go at morning,
When the night is past,
And the sun comes peeping
O’er the hills at last.
Sometime I will watch you
Slyly overhead,
When you think I’m sleeping
Snugly in my bed.
3. The Moon to The Sun
by Alice Christiana Thompson Meynell
As the full moon shining there
To the sun that lighteth her
Am I unto thee forever,
O my secret glory-giver!
O my light, I am dark but fair,
Black but fair.
Shine, Earth loves thee! And then shine
And be loved through thoughts of mine.
All thy secrets that I treasure
I translate them at my pleasure.
I am crowned with glory of thine.
Thine, not thine.
I make pensive thy delight,
And thy strong gold silver-white.
Though all beauty of nine thou makest,
Yet to earth which thou forsakest
I have made thee fair all night,
Day all night.
4. The Tale of the Sun And the Moon
by Kenn Nesbitt
The sun was in his bathing suit,
the moon in her pajamas.
They played all day
until the two
were called in by their mamas.
The sun went home and climbed in bed,
his mama sang a tune,
and soon the sun
was fast asleep
and dreaming of the moon.
The moon decided not to go;
instead she stayed outside.
She danced and played
and laughed and sang
and stayed awake all night.
When morning came the sun arose
and went outside to play,
but could not find
his friend the moon,
who slept inside all day.
So now these two are best of friends,
apart in dark and light.
The sun turns in
at evenfall —
the moon stays out all night.
The shining moon sees no sunlight,
the sun sees no moonbeams,
but when they each
are fast asleep
they’re in each other’s dreams.
5. The New Moon
by William Cullen Bryant
When, as the gairish day is done,
Heaven burns with the descended sun,
‘Tis passing sweet to mark,
Amid that flush of crimson light,
The new moon’s modest bow grow bright,
As earth and sky grow dark.
Few are the hearts too cold to feel
A thrill of gladness o’er them steal,
When first the wandering eye
Sees faintly, in the evening blaze,
That glimmering curve of tender rays
Just planted in the sky.
The sight of that young crescent brings
Thoughts of all fair and youthful things—
The hopes of early years;
And childhood’s purity and grace,
And joys that like a rainbow chase
The passing shower of tears.
The captive yields him to the dream
Of freedom, when that virgin beam
Comes out upon the air;
And painfully the sick man tries
To fix his dim and burning eyes
On the soft promise there.
Most welcome to the lover’s sight,
Glitters that pure, emerging light;
For prattling poets say,
That sweetest is the lovers’ walk,
And tenderest is their murmured talk,
Beneath its gentle ray.
And there do graver men behold
A type of errors, loved of old,
Forsaken and forgiven;
And thoughts and wishes not of earth,
Just opening in their early birth,
Like that new light in heaven.
6. A Solar Eclipse
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
In that great journey of the stars through space
About the mighty, all-directing Sun,
The pallid, faithful Moon, has been the one
Companion of the Earth. Her tender face,
Pale with the swift, keen purpose of that race,
Which at Time’s natal hour was first begun,
Shines ever on her lover as they run
And lights his orbit with her silvery smile.
Sometimes such passionate love doth in her rise,
Down from her beaten path she softly slips,
And with her mantle veils the Sun’s bold eyes,
Then in the gloaming finds her lover’s lips.
While far and near the men our world call wise
See only that the Sun is in eclipse.
7. Moonlight
by James W. Whilt
When the moon has climbed the heavens,
And the sun has gone to rest,
And the evening shadows gather,
That’s the time I love the best.
Seated by our little camp-fire,
In the forest dark and tall,
With the silence all around us,
Save the roar of water-fall—
Then the deer steal in the meadows,
Velvet shod, so still are they,
While among the waving grass-tops
Spotted fawns are there at play.
Then to me there comes a memory,
Of the days, now past and gone,
When my life was just in blossom,
I was young and life was dawn.
When I roamed the virgin forest,
Just as free as birds that fly,
With the moonbeams for a candle,
And my cover was the sky.
Still the moon shines just as brightly,
And the stars are just as clear,
But I see I’m growing older
Like the ending of the year.
Frost is gathering on my temple,
Soon my hair will be like snow,
But His will we all must follow
And some day we all must go.
Yet, I’m ever, ever hoping
That upon those shores of gold,
We will have the self-same moonlight
As we had in the days of old.
8. The Moon and the Sun
by Barry Andrew Pietrantonio
The Moon and the Sun
The Sun shines,
the fog blinds,
together they make,
a rainbow in the sky.
The Moon stares,
into a lake,
and wonders why,
he’s a big mistake.
Why can’t he be the Sun,
and light up the day.
Why can’t he be the one,
to make the bad go away.
Why can’t he be the light,
that brightens everyones day.
Instead he sits in the night,
wishing the Sun would go away.
The Moon glows,
the stars show,
a pattern of love,
that lights the Earth below.
To himself,
the Sun confides,
that he wishes,
he controlled the tides.
Why can’t he be the Moon,
and turn darkness into light.
Why can’t he be the one,
to light up the great night.
Why can’t he have the grace,
of being with the stars.
Instead he sits up in space,
wishing he could take his place.
But what they both don’t know is,
they need each other.
What they both don’t know is,
that they are brothers.
We live in jealousy,
envying each other.
Please, just be thankful,
and happy for others.
The Sun needs the Moon,
to keep the night lit bright.
The Moon needs the Sun,
to produce his shining light.
The Sun needs the Moon,
and the Moon needs the Sun.
If they work together,
they can be one.
If they work together,
they can be one.
if they work together,
they will be one.
If we work together,
we could be one.
If we work together,
we will be one.
Poems about the Moon and Harvest
The full, brilliant Moon that appears closest to the beginning of fall is referred to as the “harvest moon.” Before electricity, farmers used to rely on the moonlight for harvesting crops during dark hours. Its mention is best found in rustic poetry!
1. The Harvest Moon
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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.
2. A Visit From Brother Ghost on the Harvest Moon
by Jennifer Huang
Brother, a window I lie below tonight.
Mother moon motioning minds away at night.
What I know of him is what I’ve been told
on highways in the slow middle of the night
from a mouth too tired. The truth rolls out
a story sitting tight on the throat. The knife
edge, moonlight slicing through him,
across me. I fear I’ll forget this. Tonight
I recite every detail to make a memory. How
can I love someone I’ve never known? At night,
what I know is what I imagine: brother, alive.
Wave and gravity pulling me to him. My knight.
Once, he called Chia Chia and I found my way.
Now, my hands holding his pane all night.
3. Silver
by Walter De La Mare
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
4. Under the Harvest Moon
by Carl Sandburg
Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.
Under the summer roses
When the flagrant crimson
Lurks in the dusk
Of the wild red leaves,
Love, with little hands,
Comes and touches you
With a thousand memories,
And asks you
Beautiful, unanswerable questions.
Final Thoughts
The moon is undoubtedly breathtakingly gorgeous and just about anyone can relate to its sight being refreshing for one’s heart!
Poets have always been interested in how we perceive this far-off and enigmatic celestial companion to our globe because it had become such a popular and common element in poetry.
As a result of which we have a wide range of poems for the moon in literature created by various poets.
Though the poets see it in their own way, the captivating charm of the moon is a constant in these moon poems!
Did you enjoy our collection of poems about the moon?
