Looking at the night sky

I have always loved looking at the stars and the night sky.

There used to be a bus ride home when I’d see the full moon and think it was the most beautiful thing hanging in the sky. A bit like Princess Hayley and her comet, it seemed so brilliant and beautiful I’d want to reach out and pluck it from the sky. Instead, of course, all I did was miss a few bus stops, have to get out late and walk back!

(But then at least I saw more of the moon!)

One of my favourite lines of poetry comes from Alfred Noyes’ The Highwayman.

It says:

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

I cannot think of a more perfect description of the moon in the fierce cloudy sky at night, white and mysterious. On other nights though it hung still and dignified like a glimmering pearl.

I kept looking at the sky for all the different moods it could take on, each so enchanting and so variable. I am sure that Princess Hayley was as captivated as I was.