Sliver Moons and the melancholy joy of summer

Here we are smack in the middle of summer and I keep hearing about autumn just around the corner and getting ready for back to school… when here in Seattle summer literally just started! How disconcerting.

Last week I made this photograph of the always stunning Olympic Mountains with a sweet sliver of a moon. Around the same time I was noticing how very melancholy I feel these days, yet also incredibly joyful. I must say, it’s a rather bizarre combination.
So I wrote a poem about it.

Moon and the Olympic Mountains
sliver moons speak to me of new beginnings

Sliver Moons and the melancholy joy of summer

Sliver moons speak to me of new beginnings

something about the summer time
and the twists and turns of life
reveal a melancholy
a melancholia
amidst a deep joy

and how strange this contrast

when one season of life appears to be over
and into the next we take with us
this peculiar mixture
of grief and excitement
a melancholy joy

how do we live this tension?

the deep moan of the ferry whistle
signaling a moving onward
a mourning of the past season

the passing of seasons

joy for the miracles that have transpired

though they came veiled
in packages of suffering,
there is healing gifted deep within

and now… what comes next?

to move into what’s next, we need courage

words of the new season
fortify me daily…
stand straight and tall

in courage, confidence and strength

all is unsettled
but why this peace?
beyond all my understanding

either way, it is completely mysterious

my destination unknown
only the sense that
where I am headed
is toward Love
for Love
in Love

with Love

this melancholy joy
will be my companion
as I sail toward the horizon
graced with the wind

kissing my face

the wistful sliver moon
lighting my way

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  1. 1
    Christen Mattix

    Love this poem and photo! Have you seen Magritte’s lamppost paintings? The mood is wonderful, and reminds me of your poem because the painting depicts both night and day, just as your poem captures both the melancholy and the joy of summer.

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