The transition from night to day is an interesting thing. Weather conditions have a lot to do with the effect, but place defines its form. Always strange to find how disorienting the dawn can be when I'm away from home territory.
Here, on an average morning, the sky begins to glow softly on the eastern horizon and shapes in the open fields begin to take form... just in shades of grey at first, but then perhaps gold or pink depending on the sunrise. The trees to the east remain darkened in silhouette against the gradually lightening sky, but to the west, the treetops of the forest catch the first dawn light... could be awash with a glowing green or golden light, or in autumn, a rosy-pinkness... As the sun rises over the horizon, the light spreads down from the treetops...like liquid gold as it spills across the low brush and the fields, filling all of the shadows from tall trees, barns, or fences....
Now, when I have travelled to the mountains, the transition is disorienting. My internal clock tells me that there should be light, but confounded... I stand at the window looking out into darkness. The mountain to the east is like some great beast laying there... perhaps a dragon or a dinosaur...impenetrable... eerie. Suddenly, above it, a broken halo of light begins to outline its mass. At this point, its brightness is ineffective... the mountain dominates the morning. But then the entire sky begins to fill with light and then that familiar state..when shapes emerge from the shadow of the mountain's blackness. All at once, the sun climbs above the great black beast and the mountains to the west are blasted with light and colour....seemingly, it happens in seconds.... An avalanche of light rolls down into the valley to engulf you...standing there blinking disoriented by its brightness and speed. But then it halts... held at bay by the shadow of the hulking eastern hill which, perhaps, growls or snarls and demands to be left in peace to sleep for another hour...
On the desert, dawn comes early... soft, subtle, slow... it's all about light...gentle transition over several hours. On the desert, I'm restless...can't sleep... so much is going on. Birds flitting between the cacti, taking turns drinking from the water-fountain of a saguaro flower... In the early glow of morning, quail and hare feel safe and move about in the pink sand.... Later, the hummingbirds are flitting around... and later still, the lizards will come out to sit in the still, cool air of the morning... Temperature will increase as the sun arcs across the sky until it reaches its zenith... that point at which it blazes down on the desert... at that point it is absolute...undefiable....
Dawn at the ocean... variable... often delayed by the fog... You know it's out there somewhere, but you can't see it... you just know it's there because the fog, which has been laying there like some thick dull mass, begins to turn silvery... now it floats...becomes airy as it begins to to fill with sunlight.... Then the sun's heat gradually starts burning it away... slowly at first, but then more rapidly. At this point, the day gets exciting... Suddenly the fishing boats in the harbour emerge, bright white or brilliant blues, greens yellows, reds... On the ocean, there are two worlds... the day world and the night world... One is sleepy, silent, mysterious and the other filled with the cry of gulls, the low drumming of engines, the shouts of the men as they work on the docks... Two worlds sharing one place...
So many different dawns... |
