The Moon Will Not Be Ignored

It’s 2:30 Am and I just came in from visiting with the moon.

I had little choice. She tugged at me as I lay in bed.  Not able to sleep, but too tired to get up.  Finally I gave in.  Pulled on my leggins under jeans,  took yesterdays socks from the laundry basket.  I layered my clothes like a homeless person.

I knew it was in the single digits outside, if not below zero.

But the moon insisted.  Her light filled the windows like an eerie daytime, or the strange half light of an eclipse.

And the snow just made it all brighter.

I heard Fate whine from her crate in the bedroom as I lifted the chain on the gate to the barn yard.

Chloe peered around the wall of the polebarn, the new guard animal.

She followed me like a dog, down the hill to the back pasture.

Quiet, so quiet, except for the crunch of snow under our feet.

I looked behind me,  after Chloe the donkeys came next, then a line of sheep.

But they weren’t following me, we were one winding thread.    The big dipper standing straight up and down on its handle if front of us, Orion barely visible next to the full moon behind us.

The sheep  stopped at the pine tree, trying to reach the lowest branches and the donkeys pulled at the tall weeds sticking out of the snow.  Chloe pawed  at the snow, getting down to the earth, finding little to eat.

She was the first to head back.  Tossing her head and snorting, the sheep followed.

Lulu and Fanny, being the donkeys they are, hung back till they were ready to go.   I waited for them watching the big red star twinkle above the tree line.

I don’t know why I’m so drawn to the moonlight.  On nights like tonight, I find her irresistible. Something ancient no doubt.  A connection that demands attention.

Like our mother earth, every once in  a while she does something to get our attention.  You’ve forgotten all about me she says.  But I will not be ignored.