Slowly, silently, now the moon – inspiration for this artwork

Silver  (Walter De La Mare 1913)

Slowly, silently, now the moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon;

This way, and that, she peers, and sees

Silver fruit upon silver trees;

One by one the casements catch

Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;

Couched in his kennel, like a log,

With paws of silver sleeps the dog;

From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep

Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;

A harvest mouse goes scampering by,

With silver claws and a silver eye;

And moveless fish in the water gleam,

By silver reeds in a silver stream.

This is one of the first poems I ever learned and I have never forgotten it because it creates such exquisite powerful visual imagery for me.

It is set in the countryside on a clear warm summer’s night and the mood is quiet and still. The moon moves slowly and silently, illuminating everything below it.

The ethereal appearance of the smoke used to make this artwork matches the ghostly transience evoked by the poem.

Slowly Silently now the Moon is currently at The Paragon Gallery in Cheltenham.