Views From The Gutter

I used to be a big fan of star-gazing, sitting outside and just staring up into the night sky for a long time. I used to do this quite often, just sitting, staring and thinking of something either on earth or beyond the stars. I always talked of getting a telescope (still do) but I never did; the very act of looking and observing with my own eyes was and is enough.

Of course I enjoy sunrises and sunsets too, I go out of my way to witness them from points high and low, from every perspective possible. However, the start and finish of day does not compare to the long night, they are temporary and signal either an end or a beginning.

Night of course is a transition but it is one that takes much longer, one that does not happen in a blink. The stars move slowly across the sky, planets appear and dim, satellites, planes blink and arc slowly through. Night takes time, it allows us to breathe, to observe, to ponder thoughts deep and shallow.

I have not done much of this in a long while. I leave for work in the dark and often as I pull out of the driveway I stop in the street, step out of my car and look up at the dark, starry sky; eyes wide, mouth open, amazed at the scene above, as if this was the first time I had seen it. This is for a moment only and it is off to work for another day. In this sense, night is like a sunrise, a moment that passes and is no more.

Last night I sat outside, it was a cool night with a clear and beautiful sky. I sat down and stared up, all my friends were there, Orion, the Big Dipper and Mars glimmered faintly on the periphery of my vision. As it always does, the view stunned me, awed me.

Look up at the stars one night, take a seat, grab a sweatshirt or a beverage and just sit; it won't change your life, it won't make anything better or worse. Just watch, take it all in and stay awhile.