Mistaken Identity
Listen to Fiona read Robert's poem ...
I used to think the moon was just
the sun when it was tired
and did not have the strength to shine
but had not yet expired,
and when the sun came back, I thought,
it was the moon made strong
by sleep and rest to shine again
in brilliance all day long.
But then, one day, I glanced above.
The sky was bright and cheery,
and I could see both moon and sun.
Well, so much for my theory!
I later learned the shining moon
reflects the shining sun,
and though the sun and moon are two
the shining is just one,
and so, it seems, what I had thought
was sort of, kind of, right:
our moon is just the way our sun
shines down on us at night.
the sun when it was tired
and did not have the strength to shine
but had not yet expired,
and when the sun came back, I thought,
it was the moon made strong
by sleep and rest to shine again
in brilliance all day long.
But then, one day, I glanced above.
The sky was bright and cheery,
and I could see both moon and sun.
Well, so much for my theory!
I later learned the shining moon
reflects the shining sun,
and though the sun and moon are two
the shining is just one,
and so, it seems, what I had thought
was sort of, kind of, right:
our moon is just the way our sun
shines down on us at night.
This poem is copyright (©) Robert Schechter 2024
About the Writer
Robert Schechter
Robert‘s poetry for children has appeared in Highlights, Cricket, Spider, Ladybug, The Caterpillar, and numerous anthologies published by Bloomsbury, National Geographic, Macmillan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Emma Press, Otter-Barry, and others. Robert also writes adult light verse and translations of poetry, and is the most recent winner of both the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize and the X.J. Kennedy Parody Award. His verse also appears in The Washington Post and The Spectator. He edits the children's poetry section of Better Than Starbucks. Check out his website: http://bobschechter.com
