So what they don’t tell you about beautiful red sunsets viewed from the sky, hovering high above earth’s surface, above clouds and sparkling tiny cities and lakes, is that what is just as beautiful as the fire-red sunset sky melting over the curved edge of the earth are the brilliant layers of yellow and green and the blue sea of sky so thick above that gorgeous glowing as cloud shadows are silhouetted in wispy stripes over the darkening horizon.  That blue – bright, crisp, clear – is the contrast that gives the red its fire, its power. 

Even as we turn away to the east now, heading into a dark night over a dark and vast ocean, still the outline lingers a bit in my sight, my curious forehead pressed against the cold window glass, as I watch it grow slimmer, the red stripe disappearing into a haze of darkness.  But that bright blue above it remains.  No one tells you how amazing the world looks from up here because no one has the words for it. 

This solo trip to Italy is the way I say to myself, “I love you so.  I trust you so.  You have so many gifts to receive and so much to offer.”

I am dazzled at the whimsical precision of the Universe and the glorious way it holds and moves us.  I am leaving all I knew behind and floating away into futures of my greatest dreams made real.  Manifestations of heart and soul, vision and prayers, and still that single red fire stripe illuminates a brilliant blue from below.  I am spellbound by its simple beauty.  And the power of a new perspective to shift our being at deep levels where knowing is easy and simple and clear.  And without words.

Darci Hawxhurst for the Poplar Grove Muse