January mornings and evenings are always special. The light lingers just a little longer into the evening, so you can enjoy a later sunset each day. The mornings start later, allowing me to savor the brightening of the sky as I wake up. The mix of cold, crispness, bareness, and stillness combine to make these some of my favorite evenings and mornings of the year. There isn’t much time to sit and enjoy them, since they are gone so quickly. And the light is only “just so” in January.
Dawn
January’s dawn whisks slowly,
beam,
by orange beam, across the horizon.
The sun is low but the light is crisp
on the hardened snow.
Bare trees frame the purple sky
as the light grows
steady.
The deer, squirrels, and birds are silent
observers,
as am I.
Twilight
The last flickers of flame,
a January twilight,
allow stark branches to pierce the sky.
Like embers, glowing
The sunset is pink,
like my cheeks,
outside in the cold.
The new evening sky looks violet,
and bright.
The quiet of this fleeting time
is special to the soul.
the sagacious bee 