Holy Night

The Cat Lady left the light on so her carport is ablaze and I see feral cats darting around her car. Her television is flickering blue from the window and I see heads talking. There is no movement and I assume she's asleep on her sofa. A Tahoe is parked in her yard so she's hopefully cuddled. Perhaps she's even making quiet love.

God has sprinkled a million stars across a black moonless sky.

There is no breeze.

The sweet pungent aroma of the marsh hangs in the air.

A lone choir of cicada sing a soft hymn of praise.

All is calm. All is bright in the darkness of the night.

It's 3:40 and I'm sitting on the beloved back deck. Restlessness robbed my sleep and not wanting to wake Sarah, I made my way out here. She's been restless too and was up the last several nights working away. It's her turn to sleep.

Goddess scratches the door so I let her out with her tail wagging. She licks my hand, then plops down beside me with a heavy sigh.

There is a soft beauty that I am keenly aware of witnessing.

It feels that Angels are hiding behind Palm Trees and the one with the oyster eyes is smiling at me.

The ocean sings in the distance, waves breaking rhythmically, keeping time with the cicada choir.

Rubbing my hand through my beard my fingertips explode with the sensation of the prickly stubble bowing to flesh.

All of the bad things in the world are somewhere else. For these moments, at least, there is peace on earth. There are no thoughts filling my head, no worries troubling me, because they've been pushed away on a night O so Holy and I sit quietly and still as though in church.

The slightest of breezes kisses my face as I sit in the night.

There is no rush.

So I sit contently in the darkness.