Pondering the daily Yin-Yang

Coming back from my walk just now, I suddenly realised the balance between darkness and light is returning to a more acceptable one - nights are getting shorter (and have been for several days) and the day is stretching itself just a little further.

Admittedly the moon is strong tonight, but nevertheless, it wasn't so long ago I was fumbling along in pitch black at this time. Yes, I know there's such thing as a torch, but I find, when I use it, I can only see what's directly in my path, in the bright beam. Whereas, if I use my eyes, however hard they struggle, I can make out the trees, and feel more comforted by the softness of my surroundings.







I, like many, have always had a wariness of the dark. The unknown. What supernatural or natural creature could be using it to mask its presense? It is the time night-hunters come out to prey on the weaker day creatures. In town there was often the fear that people up to no good were more likely to carry out their deeds after the sun went down.

I know better now. There is as much wrongness in the day as at night. 'Bad' people are just as likely to be on the prowl in the daytime as night. The creatures of the night are as likely to be afraid of me as I am of them... And If there are any goblins, they are in my head.

This doesn't take away the unease of darkness though. My son used to be afraid of the dark, but overcame his fears by going out in it. So now, occassionally, I do the same. I prefer the light - I can see forms and colour so much more clearly. But, there's a quietness about the night...







It sometimes feels there are two worlds:

Day... whether sun-dazzling; cloud-cloaked; snow-covered; or rain-soaked... is the time where most of us are out working (in one form or another) and moving around. With sight there is safety, perhaps a false sense of security. We kind of know what to expect from it.

Night... the darkness immediately conjures up ghosts and gremlins from our childhoods, a shadow of our fears following us around our whole lives. Night is the time to be secure inside, knowing that our doors hold most of our childhood nightime fears away; a time to party or to relax in front of the television or (more often these days) the pc. And many of us sleep a good chunk of it away, as we should, being naturally diurnal creatures.

...and then there's the time between the two - the merging of the two, which holds satisfaction of another day beginning or ending, the security and comfort of knowing that this has been the way since the beginning of the world and will continue until its demise.








So, to celebrate the half-light, the time in between the two worlds, these pictures are taken at dusk - after the sun is down, but before total darkness descends. They're grainy because my camera hasn't got as many pixels as I'd like it to when I plucked the images out of the blackness they appeared to be, but personally I think it adds an air of the mysterious...