Night Watch

I am awakened by my senses and left by sleep. My mind meanders through notions catching only glances at images, fragments of sounds and voices, barely grasping one particular thought before leaving it for another and still another after that. Attempting to find some peace I sit quietly trying to steady the brain in my head to persuade my mind to settle. This is how it continues through the length of this night like many others. Staring over the calm water I find some focus in the reflections of the tiny sparkling lights scattering the sky. It is strange that when the same wide open spans of the earth are exposed under the light of day, we cannot often hear the presence of silence even when it finds us. The night however, hushes the earth and stands guard of our senses. Under its protective cover, reticent spirits otherwise kept hidden and subdued are allowed a degree of freedom and a sense of amnesty from judgment not wagered with illumination.

So I watch the night. The light of the stars dances on the waves in the distance. A warm wind gently breathes across the dark, cool and mysteriously sensual water. The deck rises away and presses back down into the waves while the boat, seduced by both air and water whispers, sighs and speaks to its lovers in muted conversations as if secretly trying not to wake the sentinels of the night to sound an alarm and bring the days light early. Dawn will come, though sometimes stealthily, always confident in its own timing bearing swords and throwing spears of light. The spirits of the night will again retreat and hide away until it the sun has done its tour and sinks past the horizon away from sight.

thinking, believing, reflecting, begining?

Inhaling a breath of anticipation like you take in when about to dive into cold water, I am making this first post. Well maybe not quite as dramatic. I confess to being a writer. Since I was about eleven I have spent days and sat up through long nights choosing and placing words on paper like a stone mason selects stones to erect his art. I have poured words and shaped phrases into forms for songs, essays and poems at times only for myself but mostly for whoever would take a moment to read or listen. A Blog, yeah a blog... I admit it sounds similar to blah. Something mundane, boring or like that sound you hear in your own head often in threes when subconsciously or even purposely drowning out or ignoring another voice: blah, blah, blah... And yet I have had thoughts to build intentions on and toyed with this idea for some time. I have even made a couple attempts that were soon abandoned in the past. A second string of strong thoughts enter easily chasing after and wearing down those first ones that built whatever intention I imagined. Do I think my musings and ramblings are special? Is that why I want to do this blog? No, Actually I believe that common experience creates a connection between people rather than any degree of what is special. It is not what is unique but rather what is shared that draws our attention. We seek what is common and comfortable among us to make friendships out of acquaintances and what things we agree on to build our mates and partners of. Isn't it really only the difference in perspective that we become curious about and truly find interesting? Old friends laugh with pleasure at shared escapades the past. Business partners contrive new schemes from the same basic themes they have indulged in before. Even new lovers are more eager for what they already know can be experienced because they have had a taste before of more than a virgin can begin to anticipate. So if you pause to consider anything I can think to offer, a similar belief, a common reflection, this is where we begin. Something simple, something we have seen or felt before. Yesterday morning I looked out over my back yard and saw long shadows across the snow. Those familiar shadows are so similar to the ones we see when the sun sets, yet they carry an opposite perspective when not looking backward but pointing forward from the sun, fresh and new.