Summer solstice and twilight walking

The day was warm and we rested in nests of grass in shady places while sharp voiced birds shouted warnings that we were there and that their fledglings should beware, for even in sleep we are dangerous. Then evening came and at last She called the dogs to walk. First Pixie and me, then Kiffer who waited in a field as if knowing which way to go. On the path up the hill the white elderflowers glowed like stars in the evening light.

The longest day, the shortest night, but the evening had tricks to play on the daylight and called in the mist to lie over the land and steal the light from the day, pockets of mist, the breath of the dark, fell into the gloaming.

And over the sea towards Ireland the sun set the light to burn the clouds bright. The sea so calm, wrinkled by the winds sigh, and the world so peaceful, holding its breath, waiting for a storm.

On the way back we prowled against the dark sky, wild cats, inky dark and blending with shadows.

The night belongs now to the moths, to the aireymice who hunt them and to our sister, the owl.