Thankful in the Dark

"The moon was abreast on the new-fallen snow

Gave a lustre of midday to objects below"

Those two lines of "The Night Before Christmas"

Often run through my head

I never gave them much meaning,

Just a part of another Christmas Story

Memorized by children before they can read it

But lately, I have been thinking of how apt they really are

As I walk through the night in the new-fallen snow

When there's a full moon, there really is a luster of daylight

To objects below

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?

(No, not a miniture sleigh and eight tiny reindeer)

But a really big moose, with no reasons for fear!

I stopped in my tracks

To my dog gave a whistle

And away the moose bolted

Like the down of a thistle

I continue onward,

Monty now securely on his leash

As the moose may not feel like playing

with an exhuberant full-grown but puppy-minded dog

And as I head home

I give thanks that I live in a part of the world

Where one can walk at night

Guided only by the moonlight or starlight

Sure of the ground beneath my feet

With no fears of muggers or rapists or serial killers

The only thing I have to be aware of

is making sure I don't startle those moose!

This is a terribly fragmented post

But I don't apologize

Its how it came out of my mind

and how it stayed.

None of these are my photos,

I don't usually bring my camera at night

One of these nights I should,

But I don't have the photographic skills

to do the beauty justice.

credits here and here and here