--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon…" description: "\"I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars scattered like a handful of salt across the faraway sky...\" — Billy Collins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/billy-collins-3004_astronomy_i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-a_65569.png" --- # I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars… ![“I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars scattered like a handful of salt across the faraway sky...” quote by Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/billy-collins-3004_astronomy_i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-a_65569.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/billy-collins-3004_astronomy_i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-a_65569.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ac/billy-collins-3004_astronomy_i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-a_65569.png) > “I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars scattered like a handful of salt across the faraway sky...” [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A contemplative observation of night’s quiet beauty, likening stars to scattered salt, evoking wonder and fleeting moments. **In simple terms:** Night’s quiet awe Key Takeaway Find poetry in ordinary scenes Themes nature beauty impermanence wonder solitude Mood tranquil reflective awe Type descriptive lyrical nature When to use this quote - stargazing - late-night walks - camping - writing retreats Key Concepts visual metaphor sensory imagery Practical Applications - inspire creative writing - enhance mindfulness practices Questions to Reflect On - How does this image shift your perception of the night? - What small details can you notice in everyday surroundings? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Astronomy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/astronomy/) [Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon/) [Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky/) [Stars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stars/) ## Related quotes > [“Cars lay scattered like some god-child had been playing with them before losing interest,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/cars-lay-scattered-like-some-god-child-had-been-playing-with-them/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [“I haven't found the sun but little bits of happiness are always scattered around me like stars”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-okaue/i-haven-t-found-the-sun-but-little-bits-of-happiness-are-always/) Ai Okaue > [I really don't look at myself as just one thing. 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Peattie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-c-peattie/) > [“True, I cannot see the stars scattered like gold dust in the heavens, but stars just as bright shine in my soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/true-i-cannot-see-the-stars-scattered-like-gold-dust-in-the-heavens/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [The stars are scattered all over the sky like shimmering tears, there must be great pain in the eye from which they trickled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-b-chner/the-stars-are-scattered-all-over-the-sky-like-shimmering-tears-there/) [Georg Buchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-b-chner/) > [“Let's grant that the stars are scattered through space, hither and yon. But how hither, and how yon? To the unaided eye the brightest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/let-s-grant-that-the-stars-are-scattered-through-space-hither-and-yon/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [There are stars, stars, scattered stars, blackness all between. They ripple and fold and bend, and they rush toward him, rush by him. Their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-zelazny/there-are-stars-stars-scattered-stars-blackness-all-between-they/) [Roger Zelazny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-zelazny/) > [“A quarter-moon smeared a feverish glow on the marble slabs and dappled the trodden weeds that beleaguered them with a pale dewy leprosy; only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-scott-home/a-quarter-moon-smeared-a-feverish-glow-on-the-marble-slabs-and/) William Scott Home > [How many years have slipped through our hands? At least as many as the constellations we still can identify. 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They're scattered all over. And if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salma-abdelnour/the-world-is-for-you-and-for-the-ones-who-roll-out-the-carpet-even-if/) Salma Abdelnour > [“She's not dead, Henry kept telling himself. But her life, all lives, seemed tenuous when he saw how quickly, with what ease, all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewen/she-s-not-dead-henry-kept-telling-himself-but-her-life-all-lives/) Ian McEwen ## More by Billy Collins > [“The whole idea of it makes me feel Like I’m coming down with something, Something worse than any stomach ache Or the headaches I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/the-whole-idea-of-it-makes-me-feel-like-i-m-coming-down-with/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I think clarity is the real risk in poetry because you are exposed. You're out in the open field. You're actually saying things that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-think-clarity-is-the-real-risk-in-poetry-because-you-are-exposed/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [...pleasure, of course, is a slippery word… Our pleasures ultimately belong to us, not to the pleasure's so](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/pleasure-of-course-is-a-slippery-word-our-pleasures-ultimately-belong/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Death is what makes life fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/death-is-what-makes-life-fun/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [A trouble with poetry is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/a-trouble-with-poetry-is-the-presence-of-presumptuousness-in-poetry/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [You come by your style by learning what to leave out. 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You either continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/you-come-by-your-style-by-learning-what-to-leave-out-at-first-you/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/but-my-heart-is-always-propped-up-in-a-field-on-its-tripod-ready-for/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I can hear the library humming in the night, a choir of authors murmuring inside their books along the unlit, alphabetical shelves, Giovanni Pontano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-can-hear-the-library-humming-in-the-night-a-choir-of-authors/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Every Day Is for the Thief is a vivid, episodic evocation of the truism that you can't go home again; but that doesn't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/every-day-is-for-the-thief-is-a-vivid-episodic-evocation-of-the/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Humor, for me, is really a gate of departure. Its a way of enticing a reader into a poem so that less funny things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/humor-for-me-is-really-a-gate-of-departure-its-a-way-of-enticing-a/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [You know how sometimes you just have a memory of looking up and seeing a face looking over your crib and then remember nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/you-know-how-sometimes-you-just-have-a-memory-of-looking-up-and/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Usually the poems are written in one sitting. There's always a groping towards some satisfying ending. But I'd say the hardest part is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/usually-the-poems-are-written-in-one-sitting-there-s-always-a-groping/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I was influenced by the Beats because I actually just began to commit adolescence around 1955, when "Howl" and Rebel Without a Cause and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-was-influenced-by-the-beats-because-i-actually-just-began-to-commit/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Some difficulty is warranted and other difficulty I think is gratuitous. And I think I can tell the difference. There are certainly very difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/some-difficulty-is-warranted-and-other-difficulty-i-think-is/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [“But earlier this week on a wooded path, I thought the swans afloat on the reservoir were the true geniuses, the ones who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/but-earlier-this-week-on-a-wooded-path-i-thought-the-swans-afloat-on/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) [Explore all 141 Billy Collins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) ## More Astronomy quotes > [I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. 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