Nighttime

The sun has set long ago; now the moon dominates the sky, bathing the whole landscape in a silvery glow. A massive Ponderosa pine shimmers in the moonlight, its needles glazed with lunar hoarfrost. An ocean roars through the treetops all around, and the trees respond almost deliberately: swaying, undulating, waving. During the quieter moments, crickets chirp their own muffled soundtrack of the night in a nearby meadow.

While man sleeps, the earth sings its natural rhythms. Its music is neither uplifting nor melancholy; it merely is.

Moonlight glowing
Fall wind blowing
In the middle of the night
Pine trees swaying
Now I am weighing
The merits of the light

For life and death
Are but a breath
Held in, and then let out
This silent peace
This strange release
I knew nothing about
'Til I stared stark
Into the dark
And heard a whisper and a shout