New moon shine

The new moon doesn't shine, at least not perceptibly. I suppose in theory it provides a bit of double-reflected Earthshine, but in practice a new moon is invisible, indistinguishable from no moon at all. Therefore, references to the light of the new moon tend to be few and far between.

Last night, I was reading Koté Adler's Timelock. The main character, Alik, is on board an enormous spaceship, all alone until he discovers, of all things, a small yellow bird flying through it. (This was a minor sync in itself. A few nights ago I watched the 2016 film Arrival, in which humans repeatedly board an enormous alien spaceship to learn to communicate with the aliens and always bring with them a small caged bird. The yellowness of the bird also hints at my tiny yellow pterodactylus; I used to have dreams of following it, like Alik, into the unknown.)

Alik follows the bird:

Eventually the corridor widened wider and wider until the oriented ceiling vanished altogether explosing a vast, unexplored, weightless, void-like space. The bird sailed into the dimly lit abyss, leaving Alik at the mouth of the corridor wondering and staring into the darkness. There was light emanating, somewhere within the blackness, but it was barely perceptible. . . . its soft halide glow washed through the room like the shallow fingers of a pool. It was the light of a new moon, present but just barely (p. 185-186).

This evening I checked William Wright's blog and found a new post, "The Water Is Wide," about the James Taylor song of that name. He mentions the album it is from:

The name of the album is "New Moon Shine".  In terms of links to my topics here, and even about being able to cross this sea, this title could refer to both a stone (The Moon or Ithil Stone shining) as well as a drink (Moonshine is traditionally used in the US to describe liquor that is made and sold illegally).

Also, in the upper left is a symbol like an eclipse that I think has come up before on WJT's blog, and others he has cited, though I can't remember right now in what context or why important; so just pointing it out.

I like James Taylor -- "Sweet Baby James" was my lullaby in infancy -- but I've only posted his music here once. It was "Down in a Hole," from New Moon Shine, with the album cover visible in the post. This was in the November 2020 post "Coming up for air." This same post also featured a page from Dr. Seuss's Fox in Socks, saying, "Mr. Fox! I hate this game, sir." I reposted this image almost exactly three years later, in "'Tim' and The Key," and it was then referenced by William Wright in "A battle of wits."

"The Water Is Wide" is well done, but my own personal favorite version of that song will always be the one sung by Cedric Smith and Loreena McKennitt:

In fact, William's references to stones and moonshine actually fit this version's lyrics better:

Now in Kilkenny, it is reported

They've marble stones there as black as ink

With gold and silver I would transport her

But I'll sing no more now, till I get a drink

I'm drunk today, but then I'm seldom sober . . .