A Rhythm of Cycles

You join us on (another)stormy night, but this one is moonless and black as tar. It is the night of the new moon – the Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon. The phases of the moon give us an opportunity to contemplate the intricate play of cycles all around us and how the mirror, challenge and provide direction for our lives.

Journal entry:

“3rd December, Friday

The tops of the trees is Shakespeare’s wood have disappeared in cloud.

A defrosted world, smothered in mist and pearled with beads of water.

The canal looks opaque.
A soup of leaf and silt.
Unfathomable and still.

A jackdaw hides in plain sight amongst the wind-left leaves of an oak
As a rabbit sits up and watches us pass.“

Episode Information

For more information about the phases of the moon and the names given to the moon each month, the Royal Museums Greenwich, have an excellent website: Why do we have special names for full moons?

In this episode I read the following poems:

RS Thomas ‘The Moon in Lleyn’ from his (1984) RS Thomas Later Poems: 1972-1982 published by Papermac.

David Whyte ‘Faith’ from his (1990) Where Many Rivers Meet published by Many Rivers Press.

Walter de la Mare (1922) ‘Silver’ multiple publishing.

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site.

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message using the voicemail facility by clicking on the microphone icon.