Warm Light

I love the warm evening light of late autumn. I love how the western side of all the trees is caressed by it in the hour before sunset. It’s the sun’s last kiss before the long night ahead.

It is only during a brief time of the year that the light looks like this. This warm glow will only last for a few weeks and then the warmth will fade. January’s light is more brittle and far less warm. Late March has a similar light but to me there’s something warmer and certainly more bittersweet about the quality of light in late November and early December. It’s as though all the trees are facing the west, gathering the last of the day’s warmth within.

Sometimes I stand with the trees, feeling the sun’s warmth against my own face. Sometimes I simply watch the light play across the trees, the shadows first lengthening and then the light turning dimmer and dimmer as night settles in.