Which author wrote the poem “The Moon” that starts “The moon has a face like the clock in the hall”?

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote the poem ‘The Moon’. The first few lines start: “The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; She shines on thieves on the garden wall.”

The poem continues to describe how the moon impacts animals including a cat, a mouse, a howling dog, and finally a bat. The second stanza ends with the line, “All love to be out by the light of the moon.” The third and final stanza mentions “...all the things that belong to the day“ including flowers and children, who close their eyes, “Till up in the morning the sun shall arise”.

One commentator states, “This poem makes the moon seem like a living thing, and Robert Louis Stevenson shares all that it does while shining each night. It acts as a protector of the night, watching over people, animals and places.”

Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, most noted for his novel ‘Treasure Island’. He suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life. In spite of this health issue, he travelled extensively throughout his life. He died probably of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Stevenson had always wanted his Requiem Inscribed on his tomb: “Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be: Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill”.