The Moon Lyrics
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall, and under her light the cat, the mouse, the dog and the bat are all out and about while flowers and children close their eyes. Robert Louis Stevenson's twelve lines sort the world into things of the day and things of the night.
The Moon
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-moon/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Tune
- Read quietly, as if the house were asleep, and let the last line fade
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does The Moon Mean?
The first line makes the picture: the moon is round and pale like the face of a clock in the hall. The rest of the verse is a tour of what her light falls on, a garden wall, the streets, the fields, the harbour quays, and the birds asleep in the forks of the trees. A quay is a stone landing place where boats tie up, and the plural, quays, is said "keys", so it rhymes with trees.
The second verse brings out the night creatures: the squalling cat, the squeaking mouse, the howling dog by the door and the bat that "lies in bed at noon". They all love to be out by moonlight. The third verse is the other half. Everything that belongs to the day cuddles up to sleep to be out of her way, and the flowers and children close their eyes until the sun comes up.
It is a bedtime poem, but it is also a lesson in two groups: day and night. Children enjoy sorting creatures into them, and the poem even gives the bat a joke, since it sleeps through the day.
History and Origin
The poem is in Robert Louis Stevenson's children's collection of 1885. It calls the moon "she", following the old English habit of speaking of the moon as a woman in poetry.
Learning Activities
- Day or night? cut out or draw ten creatures and sort them into two piles: out by day and out by night.
- Clock-face moon: draw a round moon with hands and numbers on it, like the clock in the hall.
- Moon watch: look out of the window at dusk with a grown-up and see whether the moon is up yet and what shape it is.
- Quiet voices: read the poem three times, each one softer, until it is a whisper.