Willa Cather quote on the moon. Quotes on the moon. (October 2023)

Susan’s Thursday morning note October 12, 2023. 
Willa Cather quote on the moon.  Famous quotes on the moon. 

Good morning!  Strong coffee.  Stacks of books all having been opened but waiting to be finished.  Bright morning sunlight entering the backdrop of my stage with a small crescent moon tagging along outside my window.  My angel of dawn has arrived with little squirrels arriving behind her dashing around the lawn.  Greeting me with her gift of this morning.  This quiet morning before winds and rain arrive.

I have a treasure in the stack next to me.  The Selected Letters of Willa Cather.  In one of her first letters from college she wrote this beautiful line about the moon.  How she would observe it from on top of her wind mill at night.  Moonlight has a peculiar effect on a country; it obliterates what is ugly, softens what I harsh, – and what is beautiful it raises almost to the divine and supernatural. 

One sentence.  One sentence that burrowed into my thoughts.  Into my soul.  Into thoughts I will have for the rest of my life when I look up at the moon.  One sentence affecting me.  Again, the beauty of authors.  Of books we pick up.  Of words that will feed our spirits.  One sentence to again give us another perspective on life.  One sentence giving us the gift of nature to again help us see what is permanent.  What is eternal.  What is beautiful.  One sentence becoming a treasured gift for every soul regardless of location or position in this world.  Below are quotes on the moon for us this week.  More beautiful words written over time.  I can imagine the time periods and situations of those below.  All stories known by this same friend.  This beautiful constant loyal friend in the heavens.  Having been present in the lives of every person below.  Quietly giving strength to anyone looking to the heavens.  For seeing beauty.  For giving hope.  For keeping perspective. 

Bye and bye, bye and bye
The moon is half a lemon pie,
The mice who stole the other half
Have scattered star crumbs in the sky.

Bye and bye, bye and bye,
My darling babies, don’t you cry.
The moon is still above the hill,
The soft clouds gather in the sky.
                         The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed

“The day, water, sun, moon, night – I do not have to purchase these things with money.”  Titus Plautus

“When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.”  Gandhi

“Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.”  Indian Proverb

“We must strive to be like the moon.’  An old man in Kabati repeated this sentence often… the adage served to remind people to always be on their best behavior and to be good to others.  He said that people complain when there is too much sun and it gets unbearably hot, and also when it rains too much or when it is cold.  But, no one grumbles when the moon shines.  Everyone becomes happy and appreciates the moon in their own special way.  Children watch their shadows and play in its light, people gather at the square to tell stories and dance through the night.  A lot of happy things happen when the moon shines.  These are some of the reasons why we should want to be like the moon.”   Ishmael Beah

“Tell me the story..
About how the sun loved the moon so much..
That she died every night..
Just to let him breathe…”     Hanako Ishii

“The moon is a loyal companion.  It never leaves.  It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do.  Every day it’s a different version of itself.  Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light.  The moon understands what it means to be human. Uncertain.  Alone. Cratered by imperfections.”   Tehereh Mafi

“Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born: – you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.”   E..E. Cummings

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.”  Carl Sandburg

 “In our village, folks say God crumbles up the old moon into stars.”  Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon.”  Chinese Proverb

“Ignorance is the night of the mind, a night without moon or star.”  Confucius

Loyal companion.  Always there.  Changing forever just as we do.  Every day it’s a different version of itself.  Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light.  The moon understands what it means to be human.  Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.  My soul expands in the worship of the creator.  I do not have to purchase these things with money.   Obliterates what is ugly, softens what is harsh, – and what is beautiful it raises almost to the divine and supernatural.  Beautiful words to strengthen our minds.  To help us continue to strive to not be ignorant by reading.  By thinking.  By silence.  To me the word moon and silence go together.  Expanse.  Silence.  Hope.  Strength.  Eternity.  All words in my mind as I look up to the skies to the loyal moon. 

“Fly me to the moon….Let me play among the stars…” – I hear the song in my mind as I type.  The moon.  Releasing me from the pull of this earth.  Releasing my mind to think.  To hope.  To see eternity.  To see beauty.  Constant beauty.  Thank you for letting me again enter your Thursday.  Tonight we will have the chance to write our epitaph for the moments we have ahead of us today.  Will we have moments worthy of inscription?  Moments we stopped mentally as they went through our unceasing sand-timers?  One grain at a time passes.  Regardless of the amount of sand.  Can we stop some moments and absorb the beauty of the gifts we do have.  Gifts we don’t have to purchase? 

Can we give ourselves thoughts of perspective and peace that give our faces calmness even when no one is looking?  Can we keep a perspective of what truly will affect us in a year, in five years, in ten years.  Can we keep our main thoughts on how we will affect lives years from now?  If we are in the scene in five, ten, twenty years are we making decisions today that will make us like who we meet when we meet ourselves in the mirror that far in our future?  All of these are decisions we must mentally make.  Choices we make.  As time goes so quickly.  Winds never stopping.  Time constantly blowing.  Our gift.  Time.  The  moon.  Eternity.  We only have to look to the heavens.  Our strength will come.  Our promise.  Thank you for coming into our beautiful store for your toys, books, and gifts.  How we love being here.  We’ll have a smile, an escape from your outside reality, and friendship.  And, possibly, the next time you enter you will leave with a book that will change the rest of your life.  Susan

Latin for this week:

Luna - moon
Ex luna, scientia – from the moon, knowledge (motto of Apollo 13)
Imminente Luna carpe noctem – By the light of the moon, seize the night.
O Mater Luna, Regina nocias, adiuvo me nunc – O Mother Moon, Queen of the night, help me now.
Lunatic – “moon-sick”
lunam – moonlight
me ad lunam volant – “Fly me to the moon”
In sol solis, vires, in luna, venia.   – In the sun, strength, in the moon, grace.

Work Cited: 
Jewell, Andrew and Janis.  The Selected Letters of Willa Cather.  New York.  Random House.  2014. 
Melmed, Laura Krauss.  The Rainbabies.  New York.  Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books.  1992.