Words and Tea Stains: Sunrise Sunset

I've been rereading Le Petit Prince these past couple days and it couldn't have come at a better point in my life. I've been trying to make sense of mind numbing subjects such as finances, material accumulation, protectivity, exploration, and falling in love with flowers. I won't go into detail about the philosophical lessons one can learn from this decidedly tiny, childlike read; just go read it if you have no idea what I'm going on about for goodness sake. Anyways, a recurring theme in the novel is the idea of chasing sunsets, and how they can be related to personal sadness and the size of a planet, as well as how the sunset both links and separates groups of people and influences life on every planet. Again, I will not go into the symbolic, metaphorical detail of analyzing these ideas, because that would take too many words and it's 11pm and I've been working for 12 hours and 15 minutes today so my head isn't in the space to perform such a task.

What I really wanted to express to you is my new found appreciation for the cycle of the sun. I have always liked the idea of being an early riser, but after having left school and not having to wake up at 6:30 and drag my zombie self to a cardboard box classroom to numb my mind for hours on end (no really, I loved high school), I have started to really fall in love with being there as the sky lightens and the city lights fade beneath the rising sun and people wake up slowly. There is a deep relaxation in observation. The same goes for the sunset. There is a catharsis in knowing, in understanding that the sun will dip below the horizon at a certain hour and rise again the following morning without fail. There is a stability in that, and in these past few months I have been left longing for stability. The sunset is a supernova of beauty, a stunning reflection of golden light, a grandeur of dissipation. The sunrise is the less appreciated sister of the sunset, an almost apologetic, bashful phenomenon. It is slow, a gentle dip-dyeing of the fabric of the sky as it is washed out and lightened by the rising radiation in the east. It isn't dramatic nor is it melodramatic. It is warm and comforting and reassuring.

Here are some of the sunrises and sunsets I have experienced so far on this journey, both metaphorical and physical.

Pleas Listen For Your Improved Viewing Experience:

Sunrise Sunset by We Are Trees

In The Embers by Sleeping at Last

Sunrise: Edinburgh (The Meadows)

Paris: My Rooftop

Sunset: Edinburgh (Calton Hill and Princes Street Gardens)

Paris: My Rooftop

Thanks for listening! I sincerely hope this wasn't as cliche as sun cycle posts usually are, but I just wanted to show a little love for the beauty that are natural earthly processes.

"You know - one loves the sunset, when one is so sad..."