Saturday, January 28, 2006

The Question in the Sky

That morning I got an email from a friend up the road. It said “Quick look out the window! The horizon’s on fire!” I turned from my computer, and my early-rising friend’s urgent message was justified. What I saw was indeed what she had described.

The sky was ablaze with an orange light that shook my eyes and stopped my breath.

One wouldn’t think that such an orange would be found in a sky that was usually blue. But nature knows the nuances and mysteries of color that paint a sky with splendor and subtly that hold us in sway. The simple gauzy clouds that attended the fire like whiffs of smoke seemed more important because they were so slight. They hung in a line to the left of the brightest light, moving so slowly they appeared to be as still as I was, standing stunned staring out the window.

That’s where I saw it—the question mark. Unmistakably, it was a question mark shaped from the misty clouds drawn from the fiery light. The shape was large as if made by my father’s European hand with a squared top and a squat bottom above a squared dot. It stole my eyes like some ancient omen or modern horoscope. It was cloud writing. Was the sky talking to me? Was I talking to the sky?

I was mesmerized. Despite the bright glow, the color all around it, that mark held my attention until I watched the shape slowly change, fade back, and vanish. It resolved itself to become part of the larger sunrise. Gone was the question to join the sky.

Later that afternoon, the question that had been on my mind for days had resolved itself as well.

I’ve never been one to believe in omens or horoscopes.
I’ve never been one to believe in coincidences or freak accidents.
I believe in synchronicity, happenstance, and the beauty of a sunrise.

I wonder whether my father’s hand wrote that question mark in the sky?
—me strauss Letting me be

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is a question from heaven.
Wither the world?
To self-destruction or what?

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Orikinia,
Wecome back,
I'm the only I know who saw it.
Maybe it was a question for me. Maybe I was seeing things.
Maybe like you say it was a bigger question????
Liz

Anonymous said...

Sky when it blazes in rediant orange brings magic to my tiny heart

I love that color of the sky at that moemnt of time...how often do we have the time to see it..I often miss such delight

Trée said...

Has any human artist matched the majestic talent of the sunrises and sunsets we often miss or take for granted. Don't know about the question mark but the beauty you describe is very real and very life affirming. Have a great weekend Liz. :-)

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Lmmnasra,
how nice to see you again. You're right that is such a special sky. We don't get a visit by one very often at all. I feel kind of lucky in that part as well.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hello Tree, my friend,
The greatest artist is one that we haven't met yet, but we get to see the work every day in the sky and the flowers and all of those things that you take pictures of.
You have a lovely weekend too. :)
Liz