It's a still night, dark, except for the glow from family's watching tv in their houses or reading stories to kids who just can't fall asleep. There's no wind rustling the branches which remain bare despite a couple of warmer days. It's so still that I can hear the rumble of trains on the tracks almost a mile away. The only wildlife out here right now is me. Who else would be rambling around at this time of night?
That's just what I hope to find out. I came out tonight to find out what goes on in the world when I'm not around. We are such a self-centered species that we believe the world stands still without us. We expect everything to be in the same place we left it when we return, but night has a way of obscuring the familiar and that's why I'm out here. I want to find what's been obscured from view. I want to catch the sly saunter of the fox or watch the raccoons who topple our trash cans, but maybe they have a certain reverence for this stillness too.
I feel the light from my macbook is somehow in violation of the code of the evening. The click of my keys and the hard pop of me striking return is almost deafening because it's so close, too close. It drowns out the trains and keeps the animals away. I am standing in my own way of truly experiencing nature, but I can't close the lid. I can only hope that one creature is brave enough to explore this forbidden light that glows on my face.
I love that last paragraph. It made me think of how you could write in nature at night without relying on electricity. A candle or lantern, perhaps, to take you back to the old days. But I love that first line of the last paragraph and the concept of violating a code of the evening. Made me wonder about that code. It's a bit romanticized, but made me think of unwritten rules and the separation of what stirs in the daylight and what stirs in the night. I bet if you did close that laptop and just waited a good half an hour (maybe with night goggles on--the bugs haven't come out enough to make you paranoid about breathing), you may have seen something.
ReplyDeleteDid you? See anything? I'm glad that you went out in the dark, since it's a time of day not many people attempt for this assignment and it can be very revealing.
ReplyDelete"We expect everything to be in the same place we left it when we return, but night has a way of obscuring the familiar and that's why I'm out here."
ReplyDeleteI love how the night time transforms perspective and thought. Night walks give me a new energy as if no one can see me--live a life entirely different than my own.