Last Light

Sit or stand facing the water in the last ten minutes of light. Pick one patch of water, not the sun, and keep your eyes on it.

Watch the color. Gold, then copper, then a grey that still has warmth in it. You are waiting for the moment the warmth goes out of the water and it turns to steel. It happens in a single breath and it is easy to miss.

When you see it, say so. Quietly, one word: now. Then stay another minute with the steel-colored water and the cooling air.

Walk back in the near dark. Do not check the time.

Attention that has a target holds. Waiting for one specific change, rather than watching a sunset in general, keeps the mind on the water for ten minutes without effort, and the moment itself is a small lesson in how quickly things end.