HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
Dawn & Dusk
Greetings to all and Happy Christmas & New Year from MB.
To wrap up 2019, MB has decided to give you all an English essay from 18-year-old (as she was then) daughter of MB, namely MB2. MB2 wrote the following essay during the pressure-cooker days of her final secondary school exams of June 2019. Proud dad got hold of a copy yesterday and took MB2’s permission to post it.
From the pen of MB2 – Dawn & Dusk
Dawn & Dusk. Two extraordinarily different events that are too often labeled as such mundane happenings. The sun goes up and the sun goes down. How cruel it is to generalise such magnificent times of the day, to talk down the magic they possess.
Let me start with dawn. The best thing about dawn is that it is a certainty. Regardless of what time the sun goes down, or how long the night lasts, dawn will always be there to bring light back to the world in all its beauty and silence. To watch dawn is to experience life. One moment, the darkness engulfs the world in hues of navy blue and ink black and the next these colours transform into pastel orange and duck egg blue.
Even before the sun comes up, dawn is changing the world, illuminating everything you see and slowly but surely returning to the earth. Dawn also signals the first sounds of the day, cockerels sounding their identifiable call and finches beginning the day with a sweet melody. The first car revs it’s engine as the sleepy owner prepares to make the arduous journey to work. And then, like an apparition, the first glimmer of sun shines over the horizon, casting light into everything in its path. As the rest of the ball of light emerges from its slumber, so does the rest of the world. The sun shines in through bedroom windows gently coaxing young children out of sleep. Animals of all kinds wake up with the glorious light of the sun as their alarm. The most magical moment of the dawn is when the light from the rising sun catches the morning dew on the grass and the entire lawn seems to glimmer like the Indian Ocean. Dawn is the symbol of new beginnings, of getting up and starting or trying again or succeeding or failing, but of doing. Dawn epitomises the phrase, ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel’, because it is the light at the end of the tunnel. Even after the darkest night, when it seems as though light will never return to the earth again, the dawn pulls through and the sun shines down on the earth in all its glory like a natural manifestation of God.
As dawn is light and silence, so is dusk intense and loud. Both beautiful enough to make a grown man shed a tear, dusk is a different kind of beauty. A beauty that is so intense, it demands to be looked at, to be taken notice of. As the end of the day draws to a close the pale blue sky is illuminated by a hundred different shades trying to take over the sky. Violent shades of purple, flame orange, blood red, marshmallow pink and stabs of pastel yellow all try to manifest across the sky resulting in what looks like the most beautiful Monet ever to grace the earth. And none of that compares to the sun itself. As it sinks further into the horizon, dusk is the one time where the sun’s true form is actually visible. A flaming mass of gas that looks as though it could set the whole world alight with even the faintest touch. What comes with dusk is the appearance of the moon and the first stars of the night. Their sereness balances out the intense power of the sun as it is consumed by the horizon. That’s when the dark takes over. A comforting darkness that tenderly assures you that it will watch over you as you sleep. That the stars themselves will send you dreams so beautiful they could never be replicated on screen. And the moons light shines down on the earth watching over us all and there as a reminder that the sun is coming once more.
Dawn and dusk. Two extraordinary events that both signify a beautiful beginning and end.
HX Report 
hello michael
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simply marvellous, Mike!
LikeLike
Thanks Tom. Peace to all.
LikeLike