Full Moon and Little Frieda

(Reflections by Frieda Hughes, born 1960, English poet
and painter)

Frieda Hughes is the daughter of the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. In this poem, her father marvels at little Frieda’s joy at the sudden appearance of the moon over the farmyard.

FULL MOON AND LITTLE FRIEDA

A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark
and the clank of a bucket —

And you listening
A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch.
A pail lifted, still and brimming — mirror
To tempt a first star to a tremor.

Cows are going home in the lane there, looping the
hedges with their warm wreaths of breath —
A dark river of blood, many boulders,
Balancing unspilled milk.

“Moon!” you cry suddenly, “Moon! Moon!”

The moon has stepped back like an artist
gazing amazed at a work

That points at him amazed.

~ Ted Hughes (1930-1998), English poet, editor and writer of essays and many children's books, including his guide to listening and writing, Poetry in the Making, and poet laureate from 1984 to 1998