Blue Moon of Kentucky
- by Bill Monroe (1947)

Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and prove untrue
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and left me blue
It was on a moonlight night
The stars were shining bright
When they wispered from on high Your lover said good-bye
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that's gone and said good-bye

Zounds, this October has been filled with moons. First the eclipse by the Earth of the Moon mid month and then the appearance this past weekend of the second full moon in October. Although technically a Blue Moon is the fourth moon to appear in a single season, two moons in a single month are the popular but mistaken understanding of a Moon that we pronounce blue.

Then there was the eclipse. Rare in itself, the Alabama night sky gave way to a sudden break in the clouds which allowed a spectacular view.

Lucky me.

But maybe not. While camping in General Burnside State Park in Kentucky this past weekend this forlorn but beautiful verse by Omar Khayyam kept playing over and over in my record player brain...

But see! the rising moon of Heav'n again
Looks for us, Sweetheart, through the Quivering Plane
How oft hereafter rising will she look back
Among the leaves - for one of us in vain.

Later, just before I left the island, I figgered it out.
I hadn't seen my favorite tree - a three-leaf Sweetgum or Sycamore tree that stood very near the campsite.
Mmm? Maybe I had lost it's location in my jumbled memory, or maybe someone had just cut it down.
Oh well.