A Place of Beauty on the Evening of July 6, 2017

A slow steady rain had fallen intermittently throughout the day, but by 5:00 pm the skies had cleared.  Billowy clouds of various shapes and sizes draped across the sky.  It had become that time of evening when the golden rays of the sun spread across the landscape creating a Midas canvas upon which long shadows emerged.

The garden shed at Merry Mount

Pastoral

The day's grown old; the fainting sun

Has but a little way to run,

And yet his steeds, with all his skill,

Scarce lug the chariot down the hill. 

The shadows now so long do grow,

That brambles like tall cedars show;

Mole hills seem mountains, and the ant

Appears a monstrous elephant. 

A very little, little flock

Shades thrice the ground that it would stock;

Whilst the small stripling following them

Appears a mighty Polypheme. 

And now on benches all are sat,

In the cool air to sit and chat,

Till Phoebus, dipping in the West,

Shall lead the world the way to rest.

 Charles Cotton (1630-1687)

As the sun slowly inched toward the horizon, the sky became a kaleidoscope of color.  I sat on the swing facing west, and observed swallows gliding against a magnificent multi-hued backdrop of color. 

O boundless, boundless evening.

O boundless, boundless evening.

Soon the glow of long hills on the skyline will be gone,

Like clear dream country now, rich-hued by sun.

O boundless evening where the cornfields throw

The scattered daylight back in an aureole.

Swallows high up are singing, very small.

On every meadow glitters their swift flight,

In woods of rushes and where tall masts stand in brilliant bays.

Yet in ravines beyond

Between the hills already nests the night.

English Translation Christopher Middleton (b. 1926)

Original German Text by Georg 

The great orb dropped below the horizon at 9:02 pm CST.  As I observed the light and color fade from the sky, I slowly walked to the barn to watch the bats as they departed their lodge flitting and dancing into the night sky.  Suddenly, I noticed another light outlining a cloud.  I watched as the near full moon slowly emerged from the cloud displaying itself in silver splendor.  

Photo similar to my observation

Oh boundless, bountiful evening!

CPW