PHOTO BY BILL FAVtK
I Touched A Sunset
BY BILL FAVKR
Mosl of us who observe the natural world arc well
aware of the seasons and cycles found there. NVe sec
the cycle of life in many ways and we know that we,
loo, will come to the end of our
life on earth. Just like the birds,
the flowers, and other mammals,
we arc born, wc live out of lives,
and wc die. And yet, when it hap
pens, wc arc saddened, wc grieve,
and wc wonder why.
A good friend of mine died re
cently. She was blind and her
health had been bad for years. She
had faccd dying several limes
FAVER since wc first met in 1964 and
somehow lived on each lime. Her bad heart and bro
ken hips and many other problems were overcome by
her will and determination to live.
She was an example to me and to many others of
overcoming health problems and of facing life in a
positive way. In spile of her health limitations and
blindness, she was one of the most positive persons I
have ever known. She loved people, kepi up with peo
ple, and wanted the best for everyone she knew. She
was one of the smartest, most cheerful, and caring
persons you could ever meet.
She and her husband lived for a while at Holdcn
Beach and left to move to Florida to be nearer her ag
ing mother. She love the beach and, although she
could not see the beauty around her, she knew it was
there. She enjoyed the birds, especially die painted
buntings on her feeder and hummingbirds. She was a
writer and could express her thoughts and feelings
well. She wrote once of the sunsets she loved:
I touched a sunset
For most of my life, 1 have had a love affair
with sunsets
They speak to me.
I collect sunsets.
Every day is a special day,
because wc who live it arc spccial beings.
Every day I live is a unique day.
jusl as cach of us is unique.
Each morning we receive this gilt to use,
to feel, to soak up its magic.
Then evening comcs-tlic climax.
It brings us the final brilliant wrappings
in which to store that day away the sunset.
Sunsets arc collectibles, treasures.
I have such a collection in my head, my heart.
My sightless eyes have only to push a liny
invisible button, and
Voila! there is my sunset.
When I could see, sunsets seemed very far away,
burning themselves out on distant horizons,
the "look but don't touch" idea
And then it happened!
As 1 so often do in the evening,
1 said to my friend
"tell me the sunset"
Me looked to the west,
then turned to me and said
"why, it's right there on your wall.
Reach out and touch it"
His hand guided mine
over this large patch of pure sunset.
All its glory was right beside me
he look my fingers
and we explored this masterpiece:
the colors, the subtle blcndings,
little dancing prisms as it bends
itself to get through the windowpane
to visit me.
I lovingly and reverently fell its softness
1 laughed with deep delight.
Very quickly it moved on
I did noi try to slop it
or to hold it back.
I didn't need to.
I have it always on my fingertips
Because I touched a sunset.
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