Night

This article is one of a few I wrote in my personal pages a couple years ago. I let my dog out late at night, maybe 2 in the morning, and for some reason, a feeling overtook me and told me to just lay down in the grass. I let my dog in, went back outside, and decided to just lay there for a bit and look at the crystal clear skies. When I came back inside, I had to write about the feelings and experience I had in just a short time.

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Goodnight. That’s the standard thing to say when the sun goes down, when life settles for a few hours. Everyone loves watching sunsets, maybe the sunrise, people love going bird watching and hiking during the day. The issue with daylight is that it is so contaminated with other worldly noise.

At five in the morning, the human starts to stir, and begins its day by traveling to work. By six, the air is contaminated with the noise of vehicles, the smell of semis going down the highway. By nine in the morning, you hear cranes, dump trucks, horns and conversation. In the day, the world is spoiled with human action. in the night is when you really see the natural world come to life.

Spending much time outside at night, whether sitting by a fire, or simply taking the dog out, or even just going out for a breath of fresh air, one can stop and pause at the magnificence of the night sky. How the stars sit and twinkle, dancing to a tune that only they can hear, and we can only imagine. How the moon illuminates the forest and the fields. How the acorns drop from the mighty oaks, plummeting down through the canopy, colliding with leaves and branches before reaching its final destination on the forest floor.

Your attention then turns to a flutter in the sky, the beating wings of the elusive bat species, out fending off the buzzing mosquitoes that consistently give you an almost pleasurable amount of pain when they bite the flesh. A snapping twig that you would normally not hear suddenly attracts a massive amount of attention, coming to the realization that a majestic white tailed deer is walking through the woods just a few yards away. You slowly walk closer to get a better look,, and as you approach, the creature’s head turns in your direction, and the ears perk up, and you engage in eye-to-eye contact. A stare down that seems to last for an hour, but you are actually oblivious to how long you examine each other.

A family of raccoons wearing their black masks walk to your left, the mother leading her squad of young, on the everlasting search for food and shelter to sleep when the sun comes up. As you turn to look, the deer sprints off into the darkness. An opossum meanders to the former location of the deer, always picking at the leftovers of whatever another animal was eating prior to the discovery.

Off in the far distance, you hear the ancient sound of a band of coyotes. At first, you may only hear one or two, but as the seconds pass, the number of howls multiply into a great mass, almost resembling a distant, reminiscent sound of the Native Americans that used to roam these lands long ago. Suddenly, the whooping and howling stop, leading to the possible conclusion that the pack had gotten a lame deer, and are able to eat for one more night.

One more night.

A stiff breeze blows past your face, and your sense of smell becomes overwhelmed with the scent of the pines, the lake, and the fresh air. You take a deep breath in, to fill the lungs with nature herself, purifying the body, mind, and soul.

A splash is heard, and as you look to your right, the ripples disrupt the glimmering moonlight upon the lake. Again, a splash, but this time you see it. You can tell that a small mouth bass is jumping at its meal. As you shine a light upon the lake, you see the distinct glowing eye of a walleye turn and quickly swim away.

You turn your head, to peer over your shoulder, being thankful for everything you have seen and have heard. Coming to terms with your place in the world, knowing that you are not above or below the things you have seen, smelled, or heard, but that you are among them. You wrap up in your blanket, and gently fall asleep. As you fall into the realm of unconsciousness, your last thought is that of inclusion, peace, and happiness. With a smile on your face and a flutter in your stomach, you drift off into the deepest, happiest sleep that many of us may never find.