Blue moon, you
saw me standing alone

Tonight, there will be a Blue Moon. A Blue Moon occurs when there are two full moons in a month, this time June 1 and June 30. It's rare that comes in an average of once in every two and a half years.

A born romantic, let me sing to you this beautiful song of our era, usually sung with feeling.

"Blue moon, you saw me standing alone, / Without a dream in my heart, / Without a love of my own. / Blue moon, you knew what I was there for, / You heard me saying a praying for, / Someone I really could care for.

"And then there suddenly appeared before me, / The only one my arms could ever hold; / And then somebody whispered, 'O love, adore me,' / And when I looked the moon turned to gold."

***

My golly, moon! Lovers always adore you. And when they pine for love, they turn to you. Let me give my readers another song for the moon. "Full moon and empty arms, / The moon is there for us to share but where are you? / A night like this could weave a memory, / And every kiss could start a dream or two.

"Full moon and empty arms / Tonight I'll use the magic to wish upon, / And next full moon / Makes my one wish come true / My empty arms will be filled with you."

***

I can give you endless lists of songs about the moon. There's "Moon River," "Fly Me to the Moon," "Moonlight Serenade," "Moonlight in Shadows," "Moonlight in Vermont," "Moonlight Bay," and many more.

And poets never get tired of asking the moon for favors to bless their love.

In college, during our overnight with classmates in a resort, a friend turned poetic addressing the moon in the presence of his girl friend.

The girl got mad, "Why talk to the moon and not to me?" He stopped talking, grabbed the girl and went into passionate kissing.

Two months after graduation, they got married. Six months after the wedding, a beautiful girl was born. They asked friends a suggestion for the girl's name. They chose my suggestion to name her Luna, remembering the memory of that moonlight night.

I met this friend in Iloilo last year and enjoyed recalling the memory of that one moonlight night.

***

Edgar Allan Poe adored the moon. "For the moon never beams / Without bringing me dreams, / Of my beautiful Anabelle Lee …"

But there are lovers who also do not like the moon. In the garden, the romantic Romeo told Juliet in a balcony, "Lady, by yonder blessed moon, I swear …"

Juliet answered, "Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon that monthly changes in its circled orb, lest thy love prove likewise variable."

She adds, "Do not swear at all. Or if you will, swear by yourself which is the god of my idolatry." I like that poetic term, "god of my idolatry."

***

It's the rarity of the blue moon that makes it special. "Once in a blue moon," is a term which means it seldom happens. A blue moon occurs at an average of one in two and a half years.

The moon in the blue moon is not really blue. What makes it romantic is that blue means sadness, melancholy.

There were a few times when the moon really became blue.

When Indonesian volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in the U.S. in 1980 and Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991, the dust in the air from the volcanic eruption made the sunsets green and the moon blue for two years following every eruption.

Otherwise the moon is silvery. "By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon to my honey I'll croon / Love tune, honeymoon / Keep on shining in June, / The silvery beams the moonlight gleams …"

Or here's another. "When orchids bloom in the moonlight and lovers vow to be true, / I still can dream in the moonlight, of one dear night that we knew. When orchids fade in the dawning, they speak of tears and goodbye. / All my dreams were scattered, like the petals scattered by my love can never die …"

A fool and the moon … The word lunatic has its root in the moon, "luna." Okay. Enjoy the Blue Moon tonight.*

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