I dig old books. ™
Est. 1998
 | ||
Home Search About Contact Terms Privacy |
Quotations about the
Moons of the Year, by Month
Each full moon brings a different season to my tipi. Thirteen seasons a year. Seasons that have no names other than that of their moon. ~Craig Childs, Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild, 1997
March moon — worm moon, crow moon, sap moon, crust moon, sugar moon, chaste moon, windy moon, awakening moon, first moon, wild goose moon,
The long months had passed, even the month of the hunger moon dragged by, and the waters... were again unbound, for the awakening moon had come creeping in and opened the way for the wild-goose or green-grass moon. Now these were joyous days... The underground folk came out, stretched themselves, and found that the great sun and the south winds were doing their best to clear away the last remnant of the winter's snow... It was indeed the glad springtime... ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
A maple that has yielded up its life
Season on sugar-season—oh, what can be
More tragic in its beauty than a maple:
Swollen and scarred of trunk, and varicose
From gashes in the bark, from too many wounds
Of too many spiles that let out too much sap,
From too much giving, giving for ninety years,
For ninety Moons-of-Maple-Sugar-Making,
For ninety Moons-of-Gathering-of-Wild-Rice,
For ninety Moons-of-the-Falling-of-the-Leaves,
For ninety Moons-of-the-Coming-of-the-Snow.
~Lew Sarett
"Thirty days hath September,"
Every person can remember;
But to know when Easter comes
Puzzles even scholars some.
When March the twenty-first is past
Just watch the silvery moon,
And when you see it full and round,
Know Easter'll be here soon.
After the moon has reached its full,
Then Easter will be here,
On the very Sunday after,
In each and every year.
And if it hap on Sunday
The moon should reach its height,
The Sunday following this event
Will be the Easter bright.
~Boston Transcript, 1895
April moon — pink moon, sprouting grass moon, green grass moon, egg moon, fish moon, hare moon, breaking ice moon, budding moon, frog moon, duck moon, wild goose moon, honker moon, seed moon, green moon, awakening moon,
...as the Grass-moon followed the Crow-moon, an influence filled the air, the woods, the ground, with fecund promise of wild life renewed. ~Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, 1909
May moon — flower moon, corn planting moon, milk moon, green grass moon, mother's moon, fawn moon, song moon, purple moon
High on a hill... was a little piney glade. It was bright with the many flowers of this the Song-moon time; it was lovely and restful in the neither-sun-nor-shade... ~Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, 1909
It was indeed the happy song moon, for the air was filled with melody — songs in many keys, but all blended into one — meadowlarks, blackbirds, catbirds, marsh wrens, vesper sparrows, bobolinks. A brown thrasher from the topmost branch of a dead hickory tree sang his famous corn song and told us that this was also the time of the planting moon... ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
June moon — strawberry moon, rose moon, hot moon, mead moon, blooming moon, hatching moon
The blessed month of June, the Rose-moon of the woods, was on the land. ~Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, 1909
Summer was at its height now, and the Rose-moon in its glory. ~Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, 1909
In the Moon-of-Strawberries-and-Raspberries
Stain the green world, O Maker-of-all-good-things,
With a bursting yield of berries...
~Lew Sarett, "Chant for the Moon-of-Flowers," Slow Smoke, 1925
The happy, carefree days passed by. One by one the birds wooed their mates and settled down to family cares. The violets, wild crab-apple blossoms, and other early flowers of the woodland bloomed and were replaced by the daisy and pasture rose, for did not the rose moon follow in the wake of the song moon? Oh rose moon, why couldn't you stay forever? ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
July moon — buck moon, thunder moon, hay moon, wort moon, moulting moon, summer moon, ripe corn moon, berry moon, raspberry moon, salmon moon, buffalo moon, strong sun moon, elk moon, copper moon
Warm, muggy days came and the thunder moon was ushered in. ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
In the Moon-of-Blueberries ask our mother earth
To let the sap go up her stalks of corn
In sparkling currents; make the huckleberries
So plentiful that when we shake the twigs
Above the mó-kuk, the sagging fruit will patter
Down on the birchbark bucket—round blue rain...
~Lew Sarett, "Chant for the Moon-of-Flowers," Slow Smoke, 1925
July is the high noon of the northern year... firefly nights and corn growing so fast out in Ioway that you can hear its joints pop in the moonlight. ~Hal Borland
August moon — sturgeon moon, red moon, green corn moon, grain moon,
The August moon of hot days and thunderstorm nights... ~Craig Childs, Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild, 1997
The blackbirds swinging on the rushes sang of the green-corn moon which had just passed. In the trees along the shore a troop of hungry warblers, who were journeying southward, fed as they moved from branch to branch. How changed were their suits from the gay wedding attire which they had worn when on their northern journey they traveled through in May! ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
August is here; within the ivy leaves
The bees make mournful music, and the sea
Is pale with presaged Autumn and wild songs
Wanton upon the waves… Strange spirits speak
Within the dusk-winds; phantom-hands implore
Sweet Summer back again. The sunshine stands
Reluctantly upon the mountain-top
Smiling farewell to the awaiting waves.
Already evening brings a scent of frost,
And late the white dew lies upon the lawn.
The harvest moon grows pallid in the sky,
And far the stars seem on their sapphire thrones.
August is here, and soon September's chill
Will fade the flowers in their glowing beds;
Love, only Love, survives the Season's change.
~Blanche Shoemaker Wagstaff, "August," Atys: A Grecian Idyl and Other Poems, 1909
Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. ~Hal Borland
September moon — harvest moon, corn moon, barley moon, autumn moon, falling leaves moon, hunting moon, yellow moon
Summer's flurry
Of green is over,
Apples are ripe,
Mown is clover.
Colors, ablaze
On mountains, burn,
Smolder, and flame
As the seasons turn.
Harvest moon
Comes up at dusk,
Gold as a pumpkin
Or corn in the husk...
~Harry Behn (1898–1973), "Autumn," The Golden Hive, 1966
That time of year, you know, when the summer, beginning to sadden,
Full-mooned and silver-misted, glides from the heart of September,
Mourned by desolate crickets, and iterant grasshoppers, crying
All the still nights long, from the ripened abundance of gardens...
~William Dean Howells
The cool, bright days,
The calm, bright days,
With their liberal-hearted noons!
The clear, still nights,
The restful nights,
With their greatening harvest-moons...
~Harriet McEwen Kimball (1834–1917), "In Autumn," c.1864
To-day one half remembers
With a sigh,
In the yellow-mooned Septembers
Long gone by,
Many a solitary stroll
With an overflowing soul...
~Alexander Smith, "Autumn"
Even a man who's pure in heart
And says his prayers by night,
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright.
–Curt Siodmak, The Wolf Man, 1941
In the Moon-of-Changing-Color-of-the-Leaves
Make cranberries plentiful in the wet mush-kéegs
And may the goose-plums on the tree be many,
So full of clear red honey that they burst
Their skins and spatter sweet upon the earth...
~Lew Sarett, "Chant for the Moon-of-Flowers," Slow Smoke, 1925 [modified
October moon — hunter moon, hunting moon, dying grass moon, blood moon, sanguine moon, migrating moon, nut moon, fall moon, pumpkin moon, dying moon, leaf falling moon, falling leaf moon, fiery moon, harvest moon
Down through the ancient Strand
The spirit of October, mild and boon
And sauntering, takes his way
This golden end of afternoon,
As though the corn stood yellow in all the land
And the ripe apples dropped to the harvest-moon.
~William Ernest Henley, "London Voluntaries," 1892
Months afterward... there was silence over all. The falling-leaf moon had passed and had stripped the trees of their leaf dresses. ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
The sunlight sleeps in valleys cool,
And sparkles on the dimpling pool,
Slants through the pines in yellow gleams,
Enwraps the hills in warm, bright beams;
The calm day done, soft shadows glide
From forest depth and mountain side,
The harvest moon with purest light
Comes forth to glory-crown the night.
~Phebe A. Holder, "A Song of October," in The Queries Magazine, October 1890
Well, the crickets still sing in October
And Lily's still trying to bloom
Though she's resting her head on the shoulder of death
She still shines by the light of the moon...
Well, the sun's setting quicker and colder
Than the last time you saw it in June
And the tree colors fade to a dark shade of grey
When they're lit by the fire and the moon...
~Kevin Dalton, "The Fire And The Moon" (Faubush Hill)
The air is chill—the fields are bare—the wind
Sighs mournfully among the withering boughs—
The golden sun descends, and leaves behind
A sky, cold, but most beautiful, that shows
Upon its saffron breast, in calm repose,
Cloudlets of every hue, through which is seen
The waning moon—the night's once worshipp'd Queen...
~John Craig, "An October Evening," c.1827
November moon — beaver moon, frosty moon, oak moon, mourning moon, digging moon, fur moon, turkey moon, dark moon, mad moon, smoky moon,
The November moon of the first strong snows. ~Craig Childs, Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild, 1997
The Mad-moon of the woods comes after the Falling-leaf moon. The time of erratic movement, of meaningless depressions, of hankerings that have no aim, and of passing madness. Few are the creatures that escape the weird impulses of the Mad (the November) moon. ~Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, 1909
The mad moon with her storm kings had struggled with life about the lake until the frogs and turtles had taken refuge in the mud at the bottom of the water; the woodchucks had gone to sleep far down in their holes beneath the ground; the chipmunk had stuffed his alleyway with earth and had also gone to sleep; the gopher had made a soft, warm nest of grass in his underground home, where he could doze away the long months until the reign of old North Wind had ended. The migratory birds had long taken their departure, but a few of the braver among them had lingered until the very waters were frozen. ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
The wild November comes at last
Beneath a veil of rain,
The night wind blows its folds aside—
Her face is full of pain.
The latest of her race, she takes
The Autumn's vacant throne;
She has but one short moon to live,
And she must live alone.
~R.H. Stoddard (1825–1903), "November," c.1863
How beautiful thy frosty morn,
When brilliants gem each feathery thorn!
How fair thy cloudless noon!
And through the leafless trees, at night,
With more than Summer's soften'd light,
Shines thy resplendent moon.
~Bernard Barton, "Stanzas on the Approach of Winter" (stanza VIII), Napoleon and Other Poems, 1822
December moon — cold moon, long night moon, moon before yule, hoar frost moon, little spirit moon, midwinter moon, deer antlers moon, winter maker moon, big moon, quiet moon, black moon
Most of the day it had snowed steadily, clearing toward sunset. Since then the temperature had been falling rapidly until it was stinging cold. It was zero weather when I sallied forth into the crisp, still, December-night. Overhead the night was an intricate mosaic of twinkling stars and the moon was full; under foot was the spotless new carpet of dry snow... I don't know anything more beautiful than a night like this after a snowstorm. ~Phil M. Riley, "The Adventures of a Winter-Night," 1912
January moon — wolf moon, old moon, moon after yule, ice moon, freeze moon, great moon, hard moon, spirit moon, hard winter's moon, snow moon, white moon
It was now January, or the cold moon, and it was cold... The snow crunched under our feet and creaked under the runners of the sleigh. Everywhere it lay about us shining and glistening. Everything was white... ~Angie Kumlien Main, "By the Waters of Turtle Lake," c.1922
February moon — snow moon, hunger moon, storm moon, eagle moon, bear moon, groundhog moon, raccoon moon, bare moon, wan moon, pale moon,
This was the full moon of high winter. It came when the season was at its deepest, in February, when the razor-blade cold of January ran into the
High winter, the February moon, was when you first wished winter would end and when you first knew that it would not. ~Craig Childs, Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild, 1997
In a blizzard, the full moon of high winter atomized through layers of wind and snow. It was a rumor, a ghost, a tease of moonlight that came when the big rags of clouds swept by and there was a thin place worn through the storm. ~Craig Childs, Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters with Animals in the Wild, 1997
Home Search About Contact Terms Privacy | ||
|
published 2021 Sep 22
revised 2022 Feb 20
last saved 2022 Sep 3
www.quotegarden.com/moons-of-year.html