Halloween Moon
Is the moon lonely hanging there,
Locked into endless orbit of an earth she will never meet,
As she daubs a creamy glow over tangled skylines?
Or is she, as the ancients said, in constant ecstatic
Symphony with the stars and heavenly bodies,
Eternally evolving through sympathetic movements
Of dark and light? And what would be the contribution
Of our dissonant lockdown emissions, the cacophony
Of human dissent and disarray which appears to make
Concord in any sphere an impossibility.
The unblinking orbit of the moon does not bat an eyelid
She has seen and heard it all before, centuries of civilisations
Rising and falling with the waves she magnetises -
So we are inextricably woven into rhythmic destiny -
The corona of tonight's Halloween Queen
Illuminates mysteries far beyond our viral confusion.
Outdoors is the new indoors
According to the floral slogans
Of swish shopping mall doors.
Except that it always was,
Always will be,
More truthfully
Wordlessly beautiful,
More brilliantly branded,
Burnt by autumnal fire,
More full of surprise antlers
Suddenly appearing amidst
Bristling sun bronzed ferns,
More illuminated by skies
Caressed by the floating fingers
Of carefree clouds.
More embracing, encompassing
All in the coil and curl
Of endless extended tree arms.
Will I live to see the day
We discard the mangled
Manhandled monstrosities
Of barbed wire and concrete,
Abandon the deadly dance macabre
Of devastation and destruction
And join the massive banquet of life
Pulsing our feet, infusing our lungs,
Shining in the eyes of laughing children
Who rightly recognise it as home.
Yesterday's glorious walk from Wimbledon to Teddington
