The Man in the Moon

The man in the moon Slouched up through the sky And he heaved up his shoulders And gave such a sigh That the stars in their spheres Dropped crystalline tears As he hummed a sad tune Did the man in the moon

The man in the moon Shone ochre that night And the sky was like wineskins That drank in his light As he heard all the woes And the seventh-rate prose He thought silence a boon Did the man in the moon

The man in the moon Couldn’t rest Wouldn’t stay And he’d been round the world For an age and a day He was sick of it all From the day of the Fall Thought it all must end soon Did the man in the moon

The man in the moon Did his work with a sigh Patrolling the planets And stars in the sky Above a bleak Earth Full of fools giving birth Where the bombs would soon bloom Knew the man in the moon