Night

Growing up in small towns and the country gave me a different experience of night than that which I am recieving here in the city. In small towns the only light that interferes with the night is a few streetlights. You can still look up and see the sky for almost all it is worth. And in the country, of course, you can see the whole thing. The yard light does not really do anything to dampen the night sky; and if you want, it only takes a short walk to be completely away from it. You find in yourself in complete, natural darkness. It can be very bright if there is a larger moon, or a sky full of stars; but, if it's a cloudy night, it can be so dark you cannot see much more than ten feet in front of you. The most intense is probably when it is in between. When a few clouds are covering most of the night's natural light, but there is just enough so that you can see everything poorly.
That is when the shadows are liable to sends chills from the base of your neck to the middle of your back, and the snapping branches and rustling leaves make your hair raise on end. Of course, you do not need to deal with any of this if you live in the country. You could just stay inside and ignore the sweat-inducing thrills there are to be had with a slow night walk; but that is not for me. I love them. I enjoy letting my imagination get the best of me. And I enjoy when I can get beyond the mere jumpiness caused by the darkness. Then is when you really find an appreciation for the night. Everything is the same during the night as during the day, there just is no sun to illuminate the landscape so clearly. That is why it is so wonderful. Because it takes away the simplicity of daylight. There is an excitement to be had in finding something secret, something hidden. And the most simple things can be hidden by the night, lending the commonplace a mythic quality.

Getting beyond my love of country nights, living here in the city for the past couple years has given me a contrasting experience with night. Well, living on campus had the semblence of a sort of small town night, even though if you really examined the sky you would find that it was being smothered by the conglomeration of city lights. However, living here in the duplex has allowed me to see that phenomenon at its strongest. When I walk outside at night, the sky is never dark, especially to the west; it is also so much stronger with cloud cover, which of course is because it catches more of the light. There are not enough trees around the area to lend their shadows to give the appearance of night. And so, outside of my door, there is a constant twilight haunting the city. I feel like it is a compound metaphor for numerous things in life, all of which are outside of the path of my thought; but, I know they are there. I feel them when I look at the twilight.