full moon through tree branches

Photo by Pete F on Unsplash

Moonlight’s Bright Tonight by Robert Moe

Part 1


Moonlight’s bright tonight.

Let’s go outside and play

In the fields of the village.

Morning’s far away.


Still crisp air holds its breath

In silence as we watch

Moonlit shadows creeping west,

Forever out of reach.


We try to chase the shadows

Running through the trees,

Standing tall with outstretched limbs

Against the lonely seas.


Come along and run with me,

The fields await our gaze.

There lay mysteries to be seen

Beyond the twilight haze.


We’ll chase our noble destiny

Into the howling storm

And catch those fleeting shadows,

Running with open arms.


We’ve stayed in this tiny village

Longer than we aught.

The world awaits, bold and bright

Even if we’re caught.


It’s time to make our journey

To lands far and wide.

I’d rather face the future

With you by my side.


Moonlight’s bright tonight.

Let’s go outside and play.

Time to forge our future,

In the streets with me today.


Part 2


Moonlight’s bright tonight.

Let’s go outside and play

In the streets of the city.

Morning’s far away.


We’ll dance in the streets,

Race under the stars,

Staring into the eyes

Of oncoming cars.


They’ll tell us their wisdom

In archetypical style

Of the roles that we play

And if we survive.


The dogs of the city,

They howl and they fight,

Then fortune they share

For our hungry delight.


When morning comes early

With its fresh silken dreams,

We shake off the dust

Of what we have seen.


We’ll feel the warm sun

Wake our guarded souls,

To feed us again

As we make our way home.


Our lives have been spent

Living other’s requests.

Now is the time

For our own conquests.


The streets of the city

Are daring and sheer.

Come with me now.

Experience no fear.


Part 3


Moonlight's bright tonight.

Let's go outside and play.

We can run until dawn.

Morning's still far away.


Embrace the lingering warmth

From the setting of the sun.

Streets grant one true path.

Night calls our return.


In silence the river washed

Our dreams from the shore.

Shiny speckles of sand

Are ours no more.


We’re left vacant and empty

With no pathway home,

Yet the streets keep calling,

Calling our return.


The nights will restore

What we knew in the streets,

But lost from our lives

In many years since.


New challenges we’ll face

With joy and with grief.

Head-on and direct,

Reclaim our belief.


Come share the night,

And the life we must lead

In the streets of the city

Where we can be free.


Moonlight's bright tonight.

Let's go outside and play,

In the streets of the city.

Morning's still far away.


Bio

Robert Moe is a full-time person and part-time poet living in the foothills of the Appalachians with his wife and blue heeler. He has written poetry for fifty years, chronicling personal experiences, coupling them with imagination and contemplation. Robert feels poems are living entities that grow and take on new viewpoints as one’s experiences change and so are needing continual update and pruning as we grow. Publishing credits include Animated Blue, Withering Wind Magazine and Academy of the Heart and Mind Magazine.

Author's note

This poem tells a life story in three phases: the urgency of youth to leave the nest and create a life, the need in adulthood to build or create something of substance, and finally facing truths in our later years with wanting one more go at conquering a challenge— facing one more thrill together. The story is told through a couple that grew up together and stayed together for a lifetime. There are many autobiographical elements to this story written down as I’ve contemplated my life from the viewpoint of my later years..

This poem is heavy in symbolism. Night serves as a symbol of the unknown future where we cannot see what is in front of us. The cars in the city represent the challenges of life that we either overcome or allow them to run us over. Dawn represents an ending. Other symbols and imagery are left to the reader to interpret as fits their circumstances.