As a kid, playing cricket in the backyard after school, we would despise the sun for leaving us as the shadows grew long on the ground; it meant packing up and going inside. Friends would be collected by their parents and our day would be done.
As I have gotten older my relationship with the sun has shifted. Although I still enjoy everything it has to offer, life, warmth, vitamin D and the freedom to play cricket (though I don’t), I have discovered a different kind of freedom offered by the moon.
In the near darkness old friends sit around staring at fires, reliving stories no one else would understand. We don’t even have to speak for it to become a cherished memory. We are together. That is all we need.
New friends meet in the shadows.
We feel safe to say the things we dare not utter in the light of day, when our expression is there for the world to see. Fingers search in the silence until they graze and linger, then entwine. Stomachs knot and cheeks blush. We will the sun to stay away so we can stay in this moment that we will never have again.
“In the morning I’ll regret staying up this late I bet.
But for now I’m fine cos I’m with these friends of mine.” Carl Jackson
