The Secret In The Stars

Just something I was inspired to write while standing outside at midnight, feeling at peace.

A gust of wind sends a shiver through me, and I let the lovely wind caress my face as my hair dances around it.  I stand on the balcony, arms outstretched to the night, the black canvas above me like a still and peaceful ocean.  I cannot see the stars, for the glow of the restaurant signs and streetlamps, but I know they are there, and it is beautiful all the same.  It is like I am the only person in this sea of quiet, slumbering souls, free and alone.  The air is gentle, like it too understands the sacredness of the hour.  It is after midnight, nearly one o'clock the next day, when even the highway pauses to breathe and take it all in.  As I stand next to the railing, holding my hands out to catch the crystal droplets softly falling from the sky, I am more alive than I have ever been.  I am awake, and relishing every moment.

With the whims of the night breeze, my mind is free to wander.  Small bits of conversations, snippets of songs, lines out of books and poems, all from the previous day, drift through my head.  As an unwanted thought squirms through, I simply take it and release it out into the night.  I inhale sharply, realizing that as much as I am an individual piece of this world, I am one with it.  I know not what our time here is meant for, or if it is counted up and cashed in for the next journey, but I do know that nothing stands alone.  The night does not exist without the day, nor the dark without the light.  I am a part of this, something that lingers in the far reaches of my mind, like a forgotten word on the tip of my tongue.  And I know this is how it is supposed to be, so I reach no further.  I twirl on the balcony, soaking the beauty of the night into my skin, into my very core.

I am jarred back to reality by a rare car passing down on the highway.  I watch it quickly speed out of sight, its occupants never seeing me.  I wonder where they are going.  Are they on their way home from somewhere wonderful?  Or are they on their way to a destination known only to them?  Another car streaks past.  Is the driver a lone man on his way home from the late shift, anxious and exhausted?  Or is it the mother of children, who are sleeping soundly in the backseat?  I will never know the answers, just as they will never know that a girl stood on a balcony, waved, blew a kiss, and wished them well as they passed by.  But maybe, just maybe, as they catch themselves nodding off while clutching the steering wheel, they will notice a nagging feeling, like someone is thinking of them.  They will dismiss the notion as quickly as it came, exiting that place accessible only at the verge of sleep and forgetting about it soon after.  But for a second, we will have shared a connection, an invisible strand growing between us.  If I could see this web, I imagine it would be tangled and silver, unbreakable as it floats and dances atop the night winds. 

Such a thing, it might be argued, does not and cannot exist.  I would simply shake my head, pointing to the endless night sky above.  The stars, though we do not see them among the glow of the man-made lights, still shine bright beyond us, winking as though they share a brilliant secret.