Where the Sidewalk Ends

The first stanza of the poem mentions both the sun and the moon, putting them indirectly into a shared space at the same time. In this mythic place within the poem, “the sun burns crimson bright” (Line 4), which may denote the scarlet light of a sunrise or sunset. Both of these times are liminal spaces, or transitional thresholds, in between worlds—not quite day and not quite night. Immediately following, the poem introduces the image of “the moon-bird [who] rests from his flight” (Line 5). It’s not specified what the nature of the bird’s association with the moon is; it may be a bird who has traveled from the moon; it may be that the bird resembles the moon in some way, such as the color of its feathers; or it may be a species that appears only at night, leading to a folkloric association with the moon. The bird may also be a metaphor for the celestial moon itself. In this imaginary world beyond the sidewalk, any possibility can be as true as any other.

By placing the sun and moon in juxtaposition immediately against each other, the poem heightens the sense of a place that is between one world and another.