Ode to the Full Moon during an "Alert", 1942

ODE TO THE FULL MOON

DURING AN “ALERT”, 1942

Full moon, brilliant, all-revealing, quiescent,
Spirit of silver silence, soul of night,
I have waited since the first pale crescent
Of your nascent beauty touched the world with light;
I have watched the envious stars grow dimmer;
Orion’s girdle faintly glimmer,
Fading beyond your fair translucency.
And, now, the earth, resplendent, caught in dreams,
The incarnation of those long desires,
Her woods aflame with lambent fires,
Her diaphanous streams
Transcended by a deep tranquillity….

Thus I, the poet, extol with eloquence
The full moon’s loveliness
And light,
Her calm magnificence;
Dreams of a happy lover!
How, then, can I confess
The beauty hides a cold malevolence,
A hideous, furtive hate?
That, in the myriad pathways of the night,
Soon Death will hover,
Death indiscriminate?
Bodies, fearful now, will cringe and press
Close to the heart of earth;
That Hell will burst through Heaven, the wild, mad cry,
A devil’s scream of terrifying mirth,
As foul destruction thunders down the sky;
A crashing, cataclysmic violence
That shatters babies at their hour of birth,
Dispassionately, age and innocence!

Moon, ally of hate and man’s vile desecrations,
No more the world will know your madrigals,
But, be the symbol of the shame of nations
Until the last star falls.

Other Pieces by my Father, Namur King:

Remembrance Day

To Be As One With God

Today has never been before

Ode To A Snowdrop During Wartime

ST. PAUL'S (LONDON MAY 11th 1941)

Ode to Goldie, the Golden Eagle on its 10th Day of Freedom

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