“The Moon”, not “the moon”

When I write about The Moon, I capitalize the first two letters, as one would a proper noun…

I capitalize, because The Moon is more than just a physical object to me—it’s a presence.

Something inanimate, yet alive.

Which seems to go against what Walter Cronkite said in 1969….

After Armstrong and Aldrin had bounced around on the lunar surface, Cronkite told us that The Moon had just lost its mystery…

Maybe so. After all, the photos showed a lifeless landscape. Seen one dusty gray crater, you pretty much seen them all, right?

We soon lost interest. The landings that followed Apollo 11 were anticlimatic. As I recall, few objected when NASA turned away from The Moon.

But though that cold lunar surface may not inspire us…

…the presence of The Moon in the night sky still stirs the human heart and imagination.

It’s right there—so close…

…and yet, just out of reach. Always, just out of reach.

In the glaring light of our cities and towns, we’ve lost sight of so many stars…

But though we’ve tried to banish the dark night, The Moon just won’t go away…

It keeps staring down on us. Silent. Yet speaking so deeply.

Writers have used a billion words without ever completely capturing its message.

The Moon says to me: you’ll never solve my riddle…my mystery…

…just as you’ll never solve the mystery of this life…

…nor fully comprehend the mystery of the lunar tides within you.

I believe The Moon spoke to our distant ancestors in much the same way…

…and spurred them to create so many myths and legends—stories that explained The Moon, without ever taking away its mystery.

Those stories seem quaint to us now, at a time when we know the facts about The Moon…

When I consider those facts, The Moon seems rather plain—just another dead rock in this vast impersonal Universe…

Yet, when I see its bright watchful orb in the sky, The Moon seems to glow with so much life.

Our new mythology need not create any new myths about The Moon…

It just needs to redirect our eyes and minds up to the night sky, occasionally…

…so that we may be reminded of the mystery of this life—a mystery that lives within us.

About Michael Patton

I am a poet, novelist, and fabulist...A new mythologist, a peace miller, a dream worker...I don't qualify as an illustrator or photographer--I just "make pictures"...I have thirteen books available at amazon... I currently reside in northwest Arkansas, but have lived and worked all over the United States... I'm self-taught, for the most part--which is like searching for the right door in the dark. It's an on-going process.... I don't want to write MY story, I want OUR story, so that's what I'm studying: the human story: past, present, future, in its many aspects--including the spiritual. I'm proceeding at a slow crawl.... I don't see the inner world and outer world as separate. By learning about myself, I learn about others, I learn about my world.... Conversely, as I struggle to understand what I see OUT THERE, I learn about myself.... But to be clear: I don't claim any special understanding. I'm still purblind, still only half-awake.... After frustrating experience with the publisher of my first novel, I've published on my own, beginning with e-books, with plans to move into print and audio. Even video.... Along with a second novel, I've now published eight books of poetry. Each poetry book focuses on a theme. For instance, the collection GLORIOUS TEDIOUS TRANSFORMATION is about the slow difficult wonderful process of change.... In that book, as with all my work, I try to be accessible to a general audience, while also striving to achieve a certain literary quality.

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