Turn Onward, Earth and Life, Turn

We who breathe air now will join the already dead layers of us who breathed air once. We arise from dirt and dwindle to dirt, and the might of the universe is arrayed against us.

—Annie Dillard, For the Time Being

Puget Sound Sunset  [Flickr page]

When I wasn’t looking, the midsummer sky finally darkened. It was light, and then it was not.

I remember when this happened a year ago. The earth turned, heedless of my attention, and the sun’s slanted rays slipped below the northern horizon. Now the earth has circled the sun once more.

Trunk Lines  [Flickr page]

Always turning, always circling, the sun itself making an ancient orbit around the center of a galaxy impossibly huge and old. It all laughs at my noting the passage of a single day, a single year, a single human life.

I must savor it while I can, grasp the waterfall of time as it flows before me. What else should I do? Where else should I be?

Nowhere. Watching my kids play in the water after a long day of making memories is enough. The water cannot be grasped, but its splash can be felt.

Turn onward, earth and life, turn. Meanwhile, it’s time for bed.

———

Click on individual images to enlarge. All are Copyright © 2013-14 Edwin A. Suominen. You may freely use them for non-commercial purposes, with attribution, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.