Moonlight

Still under moonlight, silent and serene,

a land half shadowed and half seen -

a vista, tranquil as a sea becalmed,

a harmony, no sound to jar

the silvered waters of dappled light

and shadowed depths where night

yet lingers.

Here and there in milky white

forms of beast and tree and stranger shapes

beguile the sight -

transformed by moon and shadows;

pools become quiet mirrors of the stars,

high in far celestial seas, and galaxies

in a universe of infinite unknowing.

Yet I would know it to its limits!

God alone could tell what heaven or hell

should be there; all appears as dark at heart

as a crystal to an unbeliever’s eye;

no intuition yields a sacred vision,

we are left bereft, unknowing;

moonlight is moonlight

and night a time for sleeping.