(The Moon)
Words and music 2025 by Tom Maynard
Tom Maynard: Vocal, guitar, Native American-style flute
A songwriting exercise in Maura Kennedy’s class at Summer Acoustic Music Week inspired this song. The seed of the first verse came from the previous evening’s wild thunderstorm, and a walk across a field as the full moon shown through flying clouds. The pearl is the special love that may only be received from one who offers it as a gift, by grace.
And the dance? Well, how can we refuse the call?
Lyrics:
Tissue paper shreds and tears
The evening’s storm’s last remnant clears
Ripe and full, late summer moon
Spills liquid light, fine silver true
Pearly rays out ‘cross the field
A spell to yearning eyes revealed
Each blade of grass cut sleek and stark
And gems of dew that flash and spark
Each crystal orb a tiny moon
That cling to toes, fling fiery runes
That somehow tell a trouvère’s tale
Invoke a music, hoary, hale
A pas de deux, a courtship rite
Tween firefly and fairy light
Dancing to the Earth’s first song
The dance to which we all belong
Each tree and bush, each fern and moss
Each stream, cascade, each wave foam tossed
Each heron, blackbird, chickadee
All who move and breathe and dream
Dancing to the Earth’s one song
The dance to which we all belong
Instrumental
Within my Love there hides a pearl
It lies where tides and currents swirl
A pearl, the Moon there shining bright
In the depths, a single light
Just beyond a finger’s tip
Where lungs burn and heartbeats skip
Just within a lover’s dream
Where longing may our fates redeem
A pearl, the Moon beyond my reach
Its tidal pull waves on the beach
Though I have no right to claim
I offer in my dreams a flame
A star to hang in darkest night
That star and moon might both burn bright
A pas de deux, again a dance
I know I can’t deny the chance
To dance with you the Earth’s first song
The dance to which we all belong
Each smile and sigh, each glance, each touch
Each day, each night, which hold so much
An hour, a day, a year, a life
Your gift to me the Moon’s sweet light
Dancing to the Earth’s one song
The dance to which we all belong
Tom Maynard 