Oh sweet twilight, I didn't realize I'd been missing you until this newly warm air reminded me to dally a little on the way back from the barn.
"No need to rush back", your gentle breeze reminds me,
"stay a moment while I melt around you".
The sun has dropped behind the mountain but your soft pallet of pinks and blues reaches back for me with backlit clouds. Your floating sky fingers pull me to an awe-filled standstill.
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You sing to me like no one else can. An undertone of buzzing insects, punctuated by the melody of tree frogs, delighted, as I am by your ever so gradual darkening.
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The last of the apple blossoms join in the chorus with their delicate scent, carried on your warm waves to my eager nose. That subtle smell rises up as the soil begins to release the heat of the day's sun as you lay your cooler air around us.
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I know you are only here for these fleeting few moments, that if I continue my well worn path and step inside to gather the cats' food you'll be gone by the time I re-emerge. Maybe not gone but changed, I'll have missed those vital moments of your becoming as you expand yourself from sun to starlight.
So I stand still, gazing.
I'm aware of my mind trying to capture you in words, "beautiful" and "stunning" - thoughts of a photo. While I struggle with the relentless inner narration about what I perceive to be happening - you continue to unfold into each, new, moment.
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When I notice the inner chatter I can take a breath and as I release it, let myself melt into you as you melt into dusk. My edges soften into your pink clouds, my mind riding the waves of blossom and crickets, my breath merging with your warm, soft undulations.
"Thank you!" Ah! The words again. Followed by tears, thank you, this one more a sensation in my chest than words, a warming from the inside out.
I wonder, dear twilight, if you feel me as I feel you. I wonder if you see in me the beauty I see in you. Does my tiny speck of consciousness even register in your vast ocean? I like to think you feel me always, and that maybe you are tickled when, for a fleeting moment, through the fog of this brain-filter, I manage to notice you.
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Maybe when I leave this life I'll know for sure. For now I better head down the trail and feed these cats.
What grabs your attention enough to make you stop and gaze in awe?