Basketful of Moonlight

O moon,
give me moonlight,
basketful or two baskets full,
with seeds of moonlight.

From the city to my village,
on the sides of the path
I want to sow many,
small, small moons of light.

The whole village goes to the city
daily to work.
It becomes dark on its way back
as my village is quite far.

The route is tough and full of
snakes and scorpions.
Neither bus nor cart plies.
When my father returns home
I am asleep.
And he goes back early in the morning
while I am sleeping.
O moon
give me a basketful of moonlight
on loan.
I want to light the dark route
so that my father returns early.
I too want to hear fairy tales
and stories from him.
O moon,
give me a basketful of moonlight.
I want to sow seeds of moon
on the sides of the path.
 
                             - Sunil Sharma (Translated from Dogri)

Basketful of Moonlight English workshop 

1. Complete the following sentences with the help of the poem.

(a) The child wants to sow small moons of light from . 

(b) According to the child the route of his village is tough and full of .

(c) The child wants a basketful of moonlight on .

(d) The child wants to light the dark route so that his .

2. Write down the describing words used for the following nouns.

l moons 

l route

l village

l morning 

3. The child in the poem wants to solve the problems of his village. How can the

child solve them with the following wishes? Answer in your notebook.

(a) Give me moonlight, basketful or two baskets full, with seeds of moonlight.

(b) I want to light the dark route so that my father returns early.

4. Pick out and write the lines from the poem that prove the following.

(a) Father reaches home late, after dark.

(b) Eager to hear fairy tales from his father.

(c) Remove darkness and bring light among the darker paths.

5. Write as many words as you can, using -ful as suffix.

For example, basketful, bucketful,

.

6. Pick out the examples of Alliteration and Repetition from the poem.

7. Write an appreciation of the poem. 

8. Write an imaginary letter to the moon, to convey your feelings about it.

Discuss about it with your partner and draft the letter using the poem as a

basis for the letter.

Supporting points :

(a) Sign of beauty

(b) Symbol of joy

(c) Infinite pleasure

(d) Urge to compose poems/songs/music.

Sowing the seeds of moonlight

Travelling among stars in a galaxy

Encourage the students to

discuss freely for composing 

lines. The discussion 

and composition of the 

creativity and imagination

should be appreciated more.

²   ²   ²   ²

9. Discuss with your friend/brother /sister / your classmate and write your list of

wishes to make your village/town/city people happy.

You can use the following words.

l great

l wish

l share

l talk

l help

l cooperate

l communicate

10. Let’s compose imaginary poetic lines.