Just Before Sunrise

Just before sunrise: 

being just before sunrise, and it's a different world now then it will be in even a few moments, with mystery still holding it's slightest edge, night not quiet ready to release its hold. This is when I start my walk, having kept track of hours in order to greet first light, treading that faintest line between dawn and remainder of the night - 

 being just before sunrise.

and a bit of magic still in place. 

a different world indeed. 

some songbirds have been up for hours at this point, dawn chorus sensing light well before its arrival, giving first notes closer to 4:00 a.m, playing me to a deeper meditation as I listen. Deer are still bedded down mostly, not even startled by me walking near, pausing in my brisk pace to wish them good morning, blinking their reply in return. Rabbits are stirring, well before squirrels have awaken it seems, always cautious, ears twitching for slightest cause to seek cover. There's danger even now, fox, owls and hawks are well aware of what animals wake so early and are prepared to seek an easy meal. 

my conversation with the world is quiet at this hour, a language in need of few words, more of sensations in response to what's seen and heard. Thoughts are limited as well, as if my brain holds to silence until the last possible point of night, and only then requires this specific process of the mind. Being just before dawn and this seems the most common language, hushed, as if breathed against the body in a whisper. 

being just before...

and this is how we listen to mystery. 

~

Peace, Eric