Lyrics - by the light of the moon

Written to the melody of Milonga del Angel by Astor Piazzolla

BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON

One starry night late in June,
Some stretch of coast shy of paradise.
Out for a stroll when my eyes did behold
Two dark ghosts by the light of the moon.

Poised on the crest of a dune,
Twin statuettes framed in evenfall,
Posed face-to-face in an almost-embrace:
Silhouettes quite possessed by the moon.

Were they two lovers in tune?
Or strangers at peace with chance rendezvous?
Can I dismiss it seemed two phantoms kissed
As caprice of the light of the moon?

Moments slide by all too soon.
One shade turned away and moved out of sight.
Still, I recall how two souls were enthralled
By the light of a pale, spectral moon.

Nothing is inopportune
Ruled by love's mistress of mystery.
She's fair, but she's fickle: now gushes, now trickles,
Her quicksilver light from the moon.

So I'm floating an iv'ry balloon,
Hoping that love, she may call on me;
Moonbeams in streams, may they fall on me!
Glimmering pearls, strung and strewn:
Girl glimpsed by the light of her moon.

(2011)

"Moonlight" by Winslow Homer, 1874

composite of photos by Stephen Alsford

Created: November 17, 2014 Last modified: February 18, 2015.