the end of night

[corvi]

Tonight is the last time it will be officially night here until June
29th. There will be twilight, when the sun is below the horizon and
not visible, but it will still light up parts of the atmosphere we can
see. Long slowly darkening green-blue twilights, like the lasting
resonance of a bell. In the small hours of the morning, the twilight
will have faded to a faint whisper of grey on the distant horizon. But
there will be no night.

There are sometimes strange clouds. Noctilucent clouds: wisps of water
vapor coalescing around smoke left at the top of the atmosphere by
meteors. They are so high up the sun is never below the horizon for
them, so they are lit up like daylight. Insubstantial blue wisps
shining in the twilight sky.

Last year I did fine, but this year the nightless hours are kicking my
butt. The house is perched atop a random lump of rock on the side of a
mountain, and there is nightless sky in every direction. (Even our
closets have windows. Who builds a house and puts windows in the
closet?) I am not sleeping well, and my dreams are strange. Exhausted
during the day. Been staring blankly at my work a bit more than I’d
like, though I think this particular project would be confusing even
if I was well rested.

Something in me aches for the safe return of night. And still: it is a
lovely luminous blue-green sky, like a bell whose ring does not fade.

Comments

[twoeleven]

Some of a late hit: NASA has a view from above the things that go shine in the night.