Lyric Poem · For Kids
The Moon
The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Moon” by Robert Louis Stevenson — quilloak.com/poems/the-moon
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Moon
- Poet
- Robert Louis Stevenson
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- For Kids, Nature, Love, Childhood
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 12 lines · 3 quatrains
- End rhyme
- AABB in 67% of the stanzas — couplets. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
- Line length
- Lines run 9-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894
- Source record
- PoetryDBThe Moon by robert-louis-stevenson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 e07b0298e05ea47e…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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