No doubt, the cow that jumped over the moon has inspired many a poet, artist, illustrator, and just plain visionary and/or liver-of-life. Because the words are very common, we might tend to overlook them as literature, but allow me to remind you how very, very good this poem is:

Hey, diddle, diddle,
BY MOTHER GOOSE

Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Consider all of the fantastic things that are going on in those few lines. A pet animal has become so very real that he can play a musical instrument, and not only that, he is playing a song that makes folks want to dance.

Life is being lived at the max in this poem: it is over the moon–it is heavenly–and everyday, household items have become human and have wedded and have run away for a life of bliss.

Living doesn’t get any better than what is described in Hey Diddle Diddle. I have spent my entire life, trying to get over that cow’s moon. Haven’t you?

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon
Jacki Kellum Digital Art
Created on Ipad Pro with the App Procreate

Let’s give the cat, the fiddle, the cow, and the moon credit: They taught us to dream.

I feel the same way about the Owl and the Pussy Cat.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear – 1871

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

II

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

“Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

“They took some honey, and plenty of money”—what more could anyone want?  Honey and money–the sweet stuff of life and enough money to pay the bills: that is more than enough for me, and that is what my work is about. I want to find ways to re-express the ideal that enough is more than enough, and too much is absolute fluff. Too much clouds the issues.