That Moon

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 'pink moon' until it came up recently as an answer in that impenetrable TV quiz programme Only Connect. But now, after last night's magnificent 'super pink moon', everyone's talking about it. It wasn't pink, of course; the name, as every American reader will know, comes from the ground phlox, a pink-flowered plant that has somehow got associated with this kind of spring super moon.
  Gazing at last night's spectacle, I also noticed that Venus was quite startlingly bright in the West – so bright I thought it must be an oncoming plane, but these are now, happily, a rare sight in our skies. It was Venus, and I've never seen it brighter.

'From where she lies she sees Venus rise. On. From where she lies when the skies are clear she sees Venus rise followed by the sun. Then she rails at the source of all life. On. At evening when the skies are clear she savours its star's revenge.'  –– Samuel Beckett Ill Seen Ill Said.

The light of the moon has inspired much music, from the 'Moonlight' Sonata to Clair de Lune – and this lovely song by Schumann, Mondnacht, performed here by the incomparable Hans Hotter and the equally incomparable Gerald Moore. Debussy must have had this in his head when he wrote Clair de Lune...