Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Four Moon Planet, Billy Collins

"I have envied the four moon planet." (The Notebooks of Robert Frost)

Maybe he was thinking of the song

"What A Little Moonlight Can Do"

and became curious about

what a lot of moonlight might be capable of.

But wouldn't this be too much of a good thing?

and what if you couldn't tell them apart

and they always rose together

like pale quadruplets entering a living room?

Yes, there would be enough light

to read a book or write a letter at midnight,

and if you drank enough tequila

you might see eight of them roving brightly above.

But think of the two lovers on a beach,

his arm around her bare shoulder,

thrilled at how close they were feeling tonight

while he gazed at one moon and she another.



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