Tonight i sat till
long after sunset
and watched,
listened and inhaled,
as our world
shut down for the night.
Out of the darkness
to accompany the
blackbird serenade,
crept the wonders
of the universe
into the night sky.
All around, everything,
humbling me, my speck
of irrelevant existence.
Here, on the high
common land
above Burleigh
I bid myself become
as a twig, silent,
upon the ground,
immobile.
Enchanted by the night.
Long after houselights
were doused
the spirit of the land
awoke around me.
I felt included,
I had become
totally passive.
Around me in the
apparent stillness
sounds reached my ears.
Commonland cattle,
scurry of unseen smallness
and the trees faint windsail
and creaking.
Two owl calling out.
And my breathing.
How can it be that
I feel so alive,
so at one with the
vastness of the universe.
Me, out of place
yet accepting my place
in this sphere.
Feeling accepted,
welcomed to
respect the night.
The peace eventually
disturbed by a sudden arrival,
a merryment of humanity.
I looked to the stars,
gave silent \'thank you\'
for my existence and
departed to re-enter
what has long become
the \'norm\' of humanity\'s
separate existence.