The Moon in Lazybones, The Watersong Ends

During the 1950's, the whole world was watching the race for the moon between Russia and America. The idea that a man would walk on the moon, which had been the inspiration for so much romantic inspiration and imagery since the dawn of time was absurd and downright blasphemous, to those poetically inclined. Neruda's take on this could be found in his poem Lazybones, where he speaks of loving this planet, with no plans towards departing it. He speaks of the brutalization of the "placid moon" (pg. 378), and revels in the thought of seeing the moon reflected in the ocean foam and dreaming. Also, in the poem The Watersong Ends, when he speaks of man arriving on the moon and dropping "tools of gold" there (pg. 499), he is speaking literally of the moon landing and disdainfully referencing the amount of money spent on such a venture.