Uploaded on May 21, 2012

The night the green moth came for me,
A creamy moon poured down the hill,
The meadow seemed a silver sea,
Small pearls were hung in every tree,
And all so still, so still —

He floated in on my white bed,
A strange and soundless fellow.
I saw the horns wave on his head,
He stepped across my pillow
In tiny ermine boots, and spread
His cape of green and yellow.

He came so close that I could see
His golden eyes, and sweet and chill,
His faint breath wavered over me.
“Come Child, my Beautiful,” said he,
And all so still, so still—

—Winifred Welles
Favorite Poems Old and New
edited by Helen Ferris


05.21.2024 Luna moths are beautiful, but we don’t see as many as we used to.