Jane Yolen
Circling the Moon
while sea gulls circle the moon
—Wendy Howe
Gulls circling the moon,
pull tides around their wings,
warm themselves in these colder times.
They will not drown in that Mare,
but where shall they feed?
There are no fish golden with crust.
Beaks empty, they cataract back to earth,
satisfied with the poorer fare,
the surer catch, the pennies worth.
So we all forsake our dreams for the bleak,
the smaller silver scales,
instead of that large, round, shiny coin
just a short flight overhead
beyond our wings, always beyond our reach.
Jane Yolen, the most recently created Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy by SFWA—the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (#33)—will have over 361 books out by the end of 2017. A great number of them are collections of poems, or poems as single children’s picture books.
Her poetry can also be found in some of her novels, journals, magazines,
anthologies, on coffee cans, and sung by rock, folk groups as diverse as June Tabor, Boiled in Lead, Seven Ravens, Lui Collins, as well as used as the lyrics for classical music as well.
Editor’s Note: Sea gull and the sun by Pexel is modified to look like the moon https://www.pexels.com/photo/sea-jump-peace-mexico-69389/ and complimented by more sea gull silhouettes from https://selunia.deviantart.com/art/Birds-07-PNG-Stock-568616976.
