Light play

[vaneramos]

Late last evening I drove to Toronto through pools of light, mist and shadow. Moisture smeared my windshield. Fog spilled like lakes through the low areas. Penumbras and sheets of dim luminescence surrounded each streetlamp, pulling me from one view to the next as shifting sets on a stage. Trees drifted dreamily from scene to scene, slender limbs coiled demonstratively, traced with silver and pale gold, emerging, vanishing and re-emerging.

Along the highway moved pairs of exclamatory eyes, white and red. I wondered whether anyone paid attention to the play, but the drivers kept pressing urgently past on the right, upstaging one another, oblivious to the deeper story unfolding around them.

Comments

[inishglora.livejournal.com]

As I travel often for work purposes, I'm lucky to see a lot of natural beauty, especially along the Mississippi River. I see a bald eagle at least once a week, which is a privilege in itself. But I'm increasingly aware of the pace you describe, where drivers are oblivious to everything but getting to wherever they need to be and to hell with whatever gets in the way, whether it's a bee, a butterfly or some other wildlife. For God's sake, I saw a great barred owl smashed into a pile of feathers on the pavement one morning last week, a little way beyond some other roadkill. Probably the next car to happen along killed it as it investigated whatever had just expired.

This human-centered perspective makes me increasingly sick.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

With all the driving I do to reach loved ones, I sometimes get caught in that pace, too. It's nice when nature impresses itself into my distraction, enough to make me enjoy the moment.

[hankdmoose.livejournal.com]

A beautifully-written scene. Thank you.

I've seen it many times. I've never understood what could be so important that so many would blind themselves to the beauty around them and instead speed through it as if it weren't there at all...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Well, I sometimes get caught in that pace, too, but I'm glad when nature brings me back to myself. Nice to hear from you!

[eniastoa.livejournal.com]

Some few do.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the good thing.

It's good to hear from you. I have been busy and out of the loop, but hope you're doing well.