Darkness

I should've expected it: so further North, the cold turn of the earth in winter. This isn't Iceland, but the nights are growing like months, and even noon is dim under the clouds. Seasons are cold! How does the sun suddenly vanish? I have a little picture frame to encase it, but things haven't come to that.

I am spending more evenings, which used to be afternoons, indoors, and across the street last week I saw a group of Chinese students puffing out a paper globe. They stood in a circle and lit a torch beneath it, which filled out the wrinkles with warm air. I thought of a lantern, but just like that: it was pink and floating above the street, higher, above a fabric awning, out of my seated view. They could still see it. I watched them standing in darkness, still in the circle, their hands cupped at the brow, as though this light they made was blinding. I nearly stood to watch it again. It was less than the moon. Another man, passing, looked up and stared. He still thought it was the sun.