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Every night holds wonder. It holds darkness too, but if you listen closely and gaze into the night, you’ll notice that it is alive, and even the darkest moments become but a fleeting memory when the moon and stars brighten your thoughts, when early morning birds awaken the day.
Night in the desert is special. Sounds of civilization are gone, lights of urban centers so far in the distance that they seem to be twinkling stars on the horizon. But it is not empty, not quiet. Wind rustles endlessly through brush and flowers, a distant pack of coyotes cries to the moon, and birds still chirp long after the sun has gone down. It feels like I’m the only person here, the only one listening in wonder.
The moon glides slowly across the sky, just a day away from being completely full. Its light is so bright, I let this natural light guide me as I wander carefully among this fragile landscape full of life. I stop walking for a moment just to listen. When it finally completes its path across the sky, it slowly disappears behind the mountain ridge, leaving a gentle glow behind and letting millions of stars shine across the hills and valley. The night begins to quiet down now, a pause between night and morning. The desert seems to rest before the day begins.
The air cools quickly after midnight, and the desert finally lets go of the heat it held all day.
Hours later, a faint light appears in the East. Morning is beginning again. What will this day hold? Doves call in the distance, other birds chirp as they fly across the sky, and hummingbirds fiercely defend their flowers from others.
There is so much life in the desert.
Every passing minute makes the sky a little brighter, the stars a little fainter. Mountains are bathed in golden light, while the valley is still in shadow. Don’t long for the light that you see on the horizon. It will find you as well. Before you know it, the first ray of the sun brushes flowers and scrub, it brushes your face.
Morning arrives without rushing. No announcement. Just light.
If you’d like to spend a little more time here, I recorded this quiet transition from moonset to sunrise. You can also download a free wallpaper from this morning if you'd like to keep a small piece of this desert calm with you.
Love,
Andrea