Corina Radford

Out of the deep blackness of sleep;

I suddenly find myself strangely alert, my body lying silent, as though still unaware that my mind has returned to consciousness.

What has called me from the depths of slumber?

My eyes dart about the room, seeking out the source of our awakening, moving quietly, lest they disturb the other members of my body -- stirring them from this strange synchronous state of wakefulness and slumber, almost magical in its intense opposition.

Ahhh! There it is! A sound so silent I hear it ring; rolling, high-pitched and sharp… and yet, no. It is not a sound…it is a light that fills the room, so blue-white, so cold, so still. I realize now that its luminous brightness had fallen across my sleeping face and, like a multitude of halogen arena lights thrown on at once, my mind had been thrown from darkness into stunning light.

Drawn to follow this frozen pool to its source, my body yields to the lead of my eyes, rolling toward the crystalline shaft penetrating my window. I savor the stillness of the night a moment longer, then slide from the caressing warmth of my covers… the body beside me stirring gently on the eddy of my movement.

Warm feet meet cold floor. Chilled breath retreats quickly as I rise. I glance down, my skin simultaneously bathed in ice-tinted light and air. Leaning into the deeply shadowed window sill, I raise my eyes at last to the source of that silvery call in the night.

The moon, heavy in its fullness, hangs low over the horizon. The celestial sphere glows with such dazzling whiteness it seems surreal.

Utter silence, utter stillness. The moon only beckons with its call…but once answered, gives no reply.