Red Moon Rising — a poem by Burgert Roberts
Introduction by Y62 Communications Team member Gary E. Richardson
Astronomically, a red or blood moon is the phase of a total lunar eclipse before and after totality, when the moonlight is dimmed and reddened by sunlight passing through the earth’s atmosphere.
From time immemorial on all continents, a blood moon has been an ominous sign foreshadowing disruption and destruction.
Perhaps most famously, the New Testament book of “Revelations” imagines that upon opening the sixth seal,
behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Kalia Kelmenson, a Hawaiian mind-body explorer has another take on the blood moon prophesy:
An eclipsing of the brilliance of the moon allows for an exploration of the subconscious or hidden layers of our emotional and spiritual aspects. The spiritual meaning of the blood moon is the opening of the path to exploring what is often referred to as our darker side, emotions such as rage, shame, and grief. These emotions are not widely acknowledged in our culture, and yet they exist.
As has been noted on this site before, classmate Burgert Roberts is writing a libretto for environmental theater. It is a book of lyrics centered on the Gaia concept of our planet as a living organism. It is both a celebration of nature and a call to protect what might yet be saved from extinction and ecological collapse.
Far be it from me, as a former student of Harry Berger, Jr., to confuse a poet’s biography with his writing. However, I must note that our poet has a unique perspective on destruction and disruption. Recently, Burgert literally lost everything to a fire that destroyed his home, including his dogs and his writing.
Burgert offers this installment on his Gaia visioning:
|
There’s a swollen red Moon rising Like an eyeball full of blood A blind dead Blood Moon rising Over living planet Earth Is it the Earth that smokes with blood Suffusing all the Moon? The somber red Moon smoulders Over fulminating seas A red Moon for the fires And the heatwaves and the storms A Blood Moon for the bombers And the missiles of mad war It’s a bloody Moon for rhinos It’s a bloody Moon for man For cornered trapped and hunted ones In islands of the wild: Foreboding strife and famine While humans multiply The Blood Moon slowly rises Over rainforests on fire It’s a red Moon for Earth’s burning lungs Polluted sea and sky For death-entangled ship-struck whales And shattered dolphin minds For helpless penguins starving From overfishing’s greed For the logging war on forests And homes wild beings need The brooding red Moon augurs Floods and fireclouds and drought A deadly silent oracle Of Nature’s alien turn, The sullen red Moon complements Extinction’s tide of blood. |
We welcome your comments.
hmm, very somber. I like personalization with natural creation, but there is much beauty to bring up gratitude too.
Sorry to hear of the fire at Burgert’s home and hope nobody was actually injured. I’m struck that in pain human creation grows.
Terrific!