Adjust Your Eyes, Breath Deep

One day, all of a sudden, with no indication either way (or sometimes it just feels this way—no matter), the sun flickers, once or twice, and the sun simply.....goes out. And not only the sun, but the power, and all lanterns and candles (even the hand crank emergency flashlights and tv's). Like they had a bus to catch, all the lights of the world are sucked into the vacuum of space with hardly a "so long"" And there you stay, in the silence, with nothing but the far-off stars swirling around your head, seeming to taunt you in your face because you can't seem, like them, to make your own light. It must be over, you tell yourself—not just the sun's light, but everything there is, there could be.. This is the hardest part—I promise.. But be patient, my dear, for what comes next will all but excuse the fright. Just do me one favor, and breathe easy, and breathe and breathe and...now you've got it. Did you know that not all creatures live by the day—many thrive in the beauty of night. Their senses attuned: heightened sight to see in the dark, pitch-perfect hearing, a hyperarticulate sense of smell that converses with all around—see, when I think on this creature, when I think of who you will be beneath the spacious glow of the milky way hanging about the night sky like the scent of roses—I think of the panther—I see the ferocious glow of her eyes in the wild of my mind, stalking and preying on life itself in unbridled, sublime pleasure that few will ever know. Keep the breath—your panther eyes will adjust—I promise.