Lights

 A NJ December Monday, 5:40 a.m. Rain arrives in four hours; sun scheduled to rise in one. Any beach time today must be now.

“But what will I see?” babbles my brain, as I rumble east on Roosevelt Blvd., dew drenching the windshield. Mental images flit of critics who imagine odd anyone up and about at this hour.

The sound of surf enters my ear as my truck door opens. There is plenty to see! Sea on left and sand on right, awash in the silvery sheen of a three-quarters moon high above, struggling (successfully) to peer through clouds. She wears a halo. A bright but blurry Venus glows between two cloudy arms. Little light and less color from the sky itself.

Pillows of foam pinpoint the high-water line. The few gulls are black silhouettes flapping against the sky. The waves, steady though small. No thunderous crashings today; only an ongoing rumbling.

Untrodden sand. No one else is here! Not even fishermen, staring seaward, oversized pickups parked behind, rods rammed in the sand. Do any of them ever observe the ocean in which they stand, or see the sun in the sky? Do they hear the waves and pipers, taste the salty tang? Or are their senses sated with strings stretched seaward in hopes of hooking halibut?

Skies brighten as I walk. Color slowly re-enters the world. Patches of sky glow blue and yellow (Ukraine!). The sand grows more tan than gray. The birds take on hues and a third dimension. Along with their cries and surf sounds, Handel’s “Comfort Ye My People” echoes in my mind. Beautiful thoughts and sensations all.

Many folks would not appreciate any of this. After all, humanity has invented Electric Lights, which we burn to banish Unnatural Nighttime Darkness. Lights allow us to sit wakeful into the wee hours, watching on flat screens images of actors pretending to be another, parroting a writer’s words, pirouetting as a director decrees. ’Twas the Season of Lights to boot, when we celebrate with a spectrum of shades and strengths.

Artificial lights are okay, but is it not nice on occasion to enjoy the original Greater to rule the day and Lesser to rule the night?