Last Winter Moon

 

 

 

How beautiful is this last winter moon

so high up in the center of the sky;

how quiet are the shining stars that glow



above a sleeping earth still cold with frost

that covers the roads and dark stubbly grass.

How beautiful is this last winter moon,



a golden crescent moon, a round bronze moon

shadowing itself in clusters of clouds.

How quiet are the shining stars that glow,



a thousand stars that twinkle silently

to light each zephyr and the floating wind.

How beautiful is this last winter moon



on a cold night—but there has been no snow

inside the forest filled with sleeping birds.

How quiet are the shining stars that glow



enchanting earth with beauty before dawn

when the world wakes to sunshine but cold days.

How beautiful is this last winter moon,

how quiet are the shining stars that glow.





Jane Stuart grew up on a farm in Greenup, Kentucky, where she lives today. Degrees in Classical Languages and Literature and in Italian Studies help so much with poetry forms and language that remains traditional in sonnets and haiku. Her latest project -- this year -- consists of three small chapbooks: Papyrus I, Papyrus II, Papyrus III -- fragments. Recent publications include poems in Sonnetto Poesia, Poetic Expressions, California Quarterly and The Distillery. When not writing, she raises houseplants and plays with her Cocker Spaniel Ezekiel.