Moon Music

This poem was sent to me by a friend who saw it set to music and performed to raise money for Amnesty International.

First they came with wonder in their eyes
Falling about like children taking their first steps.
Then they came with greed in their hearts
And blasted that pale inviolate face
Made visible through borrowed light.
They have gouged out the old man’s eyes;
Tears glisten in his empty sockets.

Weep lover weep
They have robbed you of your solace.
Weep poet weep
They have killed your Muse.
Weep mankind weep
They have taken away your dreams.

In the name of a partial truth
They have turned you into a tool
A second earth
Another desolation, another desecration
A new way to wealth
A new path to power.

Leela Hort

In the Shadow of the Moon

Photo by Chris Sperring

I've just had a letter published in The Tablet about the moon. I've been very interested about the search for water, what an amazing concept that frozen oceans might lie underneath the rocky surface; but I am disturbed by the methods being used.

I wonder if I am the only one to be concerned about the unchallenged assumption that it is fine to slam a 2 ton rocket into a crater to produce an explosion large enough to send a 10 km cloud of dust and debris into space? Why is it OK to bomb the moon?

I know it happened in a dark area inside a crater, but it is the principle that matters. It lays bear our basic assumption that we have a right to do anything to the natural world. It is sad the moon now no longer just has our footprints, it has a bomb crater and debris. I'm not sure looking at it will be quite the same again and I wonder if this is just the start of the path of destruction we see so much on this planet.