LANTERNS IN THE SKY

 

Some mornings I rise around 4:00 AM…still in the dead of night

and quickly check if the sky is clear…so I can see the mountain light.

The first thing I do after waking is step out on our porch and stop…

to see if the there is an aura …a luminescence…appearing across the mountain top.

There are no city lights around…no source of light from above or below…

but when the sky is clear from where I stand…the mountains seem to glow.

There is a Cherokee legend that explains the reason why……

the glow I see are the spirits of fallen warriors lighting up the sky.

Or it could be light from the lanterns of grieving Cherokee woman

whose partners…from wherever they did roam…

be it a battle or a hunt…have never made it home.

Of course there is a scientific explanation…regarding those glowing lights

creating mountain silhouettes on a clear and starless night.

But as I look out in the darkness…and this halo over the mountains I see…

I prefer the explanation…provided by the Cherokee… 

I like to think years ago…in the solitude of the early morn….

when the Cherokee saw this same light I am seeing…

these legends were first born.

I have always loved love fairy tales, fables and legends…

and I imagine that is why…

when I wake up at 4:00 AM…

and the night is clear

I search for lanterns in the sky.