It is before moonrise and the stars keep us company. We make love in the generous languorous way of people who like each other in the moment and in their memories. It isn’t the sole night that we make melody in the garden.

The subtle rustle of other animals, their yips and hoots, settle in on me, and in my life confirm the beauty and coherence of my home – this earth – with sparkling star and brushstroke ‘milky way’. Dark nights soften the intrusion of mechanical light on Earth – Earth that needs its rest.

I do understand the safety that mechanical light provides us in the evening when we turn from the day. This is mostly safety from our species, our destructive peculiar species.

There is a blessing of night sky as the moon drifts from east to west as my planet rotates.

Those stars that at moments look to me like light coming through blue-black velvet are an invitation to luxuriate in the sensual gift life is. Those are nights when we share the gift of lust or the gift of silence. The gift is the thank you note.