My So-Called Life28 Jan 2007 10:01 pm
In a writing class long ago, I learned the aphorism that there’s two things that are simply indescribable—and one of them is a sunset. So I won’t try to try describe today’s sunset at Miramar (near Half Moon Bay), which was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in awhile. Suffice to say, I spent long minutes transfixed on the beach. Which was nice after a day of unnecessary running around that had left me cranky.
The closest I can get to describing the feeling is quoting the lyrics from Joe Jackson’s “Shanghai Sky” (from his remarkable “Big World” album):
Strange
How the world got so small
I turned around and there was nowhere left to go
So sad
The dream always dies
Each new arrival closes places in my mind
But I can dream
Until I go
Of smells that I don’t recognize
And by the river
In Shanghai
The colour of the sky
Is something I’ve never seen
After the summer rain
Children smile
Curious and kind
And the world is big again
February 7th, 2007 at 10:49 am
It seems like sometimes you get treated to a spectacular sunset, or a rainbow, or the smell of freshly baked bread, or whatever, exactly at the point where the petty annoyances of life are accumulating. I am not much for belief in an intelligent order to the universe, but if I were I would say that someone up there is trying to remind us to keep our sense of perspective.