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 A Full moon this evening. Hopefully clouds and fog will wait so we can see it rising. Glimpsing it through the trees, a feeling of quiet mystery waves through my heart, as if my day is washed clean and the night begins her reign like a queen.

There is a German evening song (Abendlied) about the rising of the moon – a very well known folksong and lullaby. The words are a beautiful poem by Matthias Claudius from 1778. The sky and stars, the dark silent forest, the white fog rising from the meadows... Many composers, like Schubert, and all kind of singers, created and sang their versions.

Der Mond ist aufgegangen
Die goldnen Sternlein prangen
Am Himmel hell und klar:
Der Wald steht schwarz und schweiget,
Und aus den Wiesen steiget
Der weiße Nebel wunderbar.

The last of seven verses ends with: “and let us sleep calmly, and our sick neighbor, too.” As a child I so loved singing it, and it comforted me that the sick neighbor was included in this song of solace.

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