In the Night

My home is as familiar to me in the lonely night as it is in a busy day. In fact, I may know the toe-catching corners better and avoid them with more ease than in my hurry-up day mode.

I know my kitchen, bathroom, and living room more intimately because I wander there more frequently these nights at 2 or 3, 4 or 5am. On the Full Moon, when this transitioning spot light casts shadows across the linoleum floor, I can see every piece of furniture, undone project, and paper pile in three dimension. On New Moon nights, I have to use my sixth sense or allow my eyes to adjust to the subtle beams from the multitudes of stars hanging out in the sky.

Night time used to be a harrowing time to be awake because I worked an eight to ten hour job. Now that I'm retired and retreaded and work from home, I have an improved attitude about my wakefulness, while ticking clocks keep me company.

I would like to think of night as the other side of day, but in some areas of cities, there's more activity in the darkness. The desert has more animals roaming. The trees may seem to slumber but they can dance in a wind just as flirtatiously as in daylight.

My mind is just as active. I can work myself up into a good worry or have endless conversations which include variations of all the things I should have said or want to say. Prayer comes easier at night, for family, friends, the state of the Earth and governments. Most nights my mind is tugging my heart into constant prayer about wars, oil spills, our economy. Only after my pleas for peaceful co-existence, salvation for our water, and stabilization of financial institutions will I pray for my health, my home, my family, then comes the specific prayers.

Maybe I should pray for the end to greed first. It seems to be the bottom line of our most recent catastrophes. Then I can offer my most frequent prayer for those suffering from lack of food, water, clothes, and shelter, to be touched by the love of the Divine, however they name him or her, especially if they are awake in the darkness too and feeling alone.