Lit

[rejectomorph]

A small group of deer passed by while I was outside. The improbably bright moon was in my eyes, so I barely saw the deer themselves, but I saw the dark shadows they cast, and heard their hooves strike the pavement. They undoubtedly saw me standing on the porch, drenched in moonlight. Some of them hurried by, and some walked slowly, perhaps hoping not to attract my attention, perhaps inspecting me. My cat surely got a good look at them, though. Once they had passed, she appeared from under the bush in the corner of the yard, about twenty feet from where they had passed. Maybe the deer had been more interested in the bright cat eyes they had seen watching them than in me. I'll bet that kitties and deer get to see all sorts of interesting things at night.

I saw quite a bit more than usual, myself, the moon being as bright as it was. Where it shone, I could pick out many details of houses and yards, and even (vaguely) the patterns of tree bark. More pleasing were the streaks of thin clouds, which looked as though they'd been painted by Turner, and the silhouetted pine branches, inky against the luminous sky and the moon, once it settled behind them. Now and then, a breeze would stir clumps of needles and the moon would flicker behind them. The serenity of the scene was so vast as to make me impervious to the chill air. I know that when I was five or six years old, I feared the dark. Now, I can't even remember what that was like.