“It was the most beautiful night of their lives – their wedding night. The moon was full, splashing its bright silver light all over and making the night shine, with a magical canopy of stars sprayed against a velvety sky.”

“The sun rose, the moon saturated the night sky with its silver light and the stars blazed, indifferent to the events happening below them.”

“To get through the night, I sometimes imagined the sky filled with a canopy of stars. I imagined that each star contained the soul of a girl or boy who had died too young, and the light the stars gave off was their brightness.”

“To Selene (Moon)Hear, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, bull-horn'd and wand'ring thro' the gloom of Night.With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide Night's torch extending, thro' the heav'ns you ride:Female and Male with borrow'd rays you shine, and now full-orb'd, now tending to decline.Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon [Mene], whose amber orb makes Night's reflected noon:Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night, all-seeing pow'r bedeck'd with starry light.Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife, in peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend, who giv'st to Nature's works their destin'd end.Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail! Deck'd with a graceful robe and shining veil;Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,Shine on these sacred rites with prosp'rous rays, and pleas'd accept thy suppliant's mystic praise.”

“The gleaming stars all about the shining moonHide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendidIn the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth with clear silver light.”

“The night wore out, and, as he stood upon the bridge listening to the water as it splashed the river-walls of the Island of Paris, where the picturesque confusion of houses and cathedral shone bright in the light of the moon, the day came coldly, looking like a dead face out of the sky. Then, the night, with the moon and the stars, turned pale and died, and for a little while it seemed as if Creation were delivered over to Death's dominion. But, the glorious sun, rising, seemed to strike those words, that burden of the night, straight and warm to his heart in its long bright rays. And looking along them, with reverently shaded eyes, a bridge of light appeared to span the air between him and the sun, while the river sparkled under it.”