Meeting The Wolf Moon and Mars In The Back Pasture

At 10pm the sky was clear and the Wolf Moon threw shadows like the summer sun.

But at 1am when I got up from bed, the glow of the night in the bedroom windows, clouds covered the sky.  Still the full moon cast her light and reflected off the snow.

I zipped my coat, grabbed my hat and mittens and stepped into my boots.  Out the back door and through the barnyard gate, Fate circling me.

Merricat was the first to peek out of the barn. It’s me, I called to them, and one by one the sheep came around the corner of the barn with Lulu and Fanny behind them.

I didn’t expect them to follow me into the back pasture, but they did.  A long, dark, beaded line that stretched from the barn halfway down the hill,  led by the donkeys.

I stopped in the middle of the pasture looking up at the moon, now directly overhead.

The clouds were moving quickly past her so her glow brightened and ebbed. And as I watched,  the clouds next to the moon opened so I could see a circle of dark sky and in it Mars shinning brightly.

It was like looking through a crack it the ice into the dark water beneath.  I  felt a sense of wonder, as if a curtain had been drawn back and I was given a glimpse of something that wasn’t meant to be seen.

It was magical, as if it were revealed just for me.   A special gift for coming out into the night.

And just as quickly the clouds came together and closed up the hole in the sky.

The sheep and donkeys stood around me waiting, I think, for me to bring them to food. Why else would they follow me into the pasture in the middle of the night.

When suddenly, out of no where, a loud, cold gust of wind tore through the pasture.

Fanny lowered her head and kicked her hind legs, and like a flock of starling, all the animals turned and headed back to the barn.  Fanny leading from behind.

Fate and I followed too.

We weren’t out long, but I was feeling the cold.  Zip met us at the barn yard gate and I leaned over and scratched his ears.

Back in the house,   I put a few logs in the wood stove, went upstairs and crawled into our warm bed where Jon was sleeping soundly.