So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed - Award Of Merit (2008) The Word Guild

<i>So The Moon Would Not Be Swallowed</i> - Award Of Merit (2008) The Word Guild
A poetic journey with the poet's missionary grandparents to the China they served in between 1923 and 1951. CHECK OUT THE REVIEWS OF BOTH BOOKS (below)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Poem: LUNAR ECLIPSE (June 1928)

Yencheng, Honan, China

On Sunday evening as darkness crept in
the people rushed out
with gongs
-----& pots
----------& anything to make noise
to scare the heavenly dog
that slowly
-----very slowly
----------ever so slowly
had placed its jaws about the moon

They persisted in their din --it was said
so the moon would not be swallowed
& leave them in the dark --forever

(This poem first appeared in Windsor Review)