A Book of the Seasons: The season of two twilights.

Night comes on early.

Pine tree tops outlined against

the cold western sky. 

December 12, 1859

December 11

By mid-afternoon 

I will see the sun setting 

far through the woods.

That peculiar

clear greenish sky in the west

like a molten gem.

The day is short and 

we now have these early still 

clear winter sunsets. 

Two twilights merely --

the morning and the evening

now make the whole day.

December 11, 1854 

Winter sky; winter sunsets

November 28, 1859 ("We make a good deal of the early twilights of these November days, they make so large a part of the afternoon.”)

November 30, 1858 (“The short afternoons are come . . . We see purple clouds in the east horizon.")

December 8, 1854 (“There is a glorious clear sunset sky, soft and delicate and warm”)

December 9, 1856 ("A slight blush begins to suffuse the eastern horizon, and so the picture of the day is done and set in a gilded frame. Such is a winter eve.")

 

December 9, 1856 ("The worker who would accomplish much these short days must shear a dusky slice off both ends of the night”)

December 9, 1859 (" I observe at mid-afternoon, the air being very quiet and serene, that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth. . . .[T]here is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge. Thus, methinks, it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer.")

Decenber 10, 1856 ("I see the sun set from the side of Nawshawtuct, and make haste to the post-office with the red sky over my shoulder . . . on my return, the apparently full moon has fairly commenced her reign, and I go home by her light.")

December 11, 1854 ("It is but mid-afternoon when I see the sun setting far through the woods, and there is that peculiar clear vitreous greenish sky in the west, as it were a molten gem.The day is short; it seems to be composed of two twilights merely")

December 12, 1859 ("The night comes on early these days, and I soon see the pine tree tops distinctly outlined against the dun (or amber) but cold western sky.")

December 14, 1851 ("There is a beautifully pure greenish-blue sky under the clouds now in the southwest just before sunset.")

December 14, 1852 (" Who can tell the serenity and clarity of a New England winter sunset?")

December 15, 1856 ("The hushed stillness of the wood at sundown, aye, all the winter day; the short boreal twilight; the smooth serenity and the reflections of the pond, still alone free from ice;. . . the gilded bar of cloud . . .conducting my thoughts into the eternal west; the deepening horizon glow; and the hasty walk homeward to enjoy the long winter evening.")

December 17, 1850 ("I noticed when the snow first came that the days were very sensibly lengthened by the light being reflected from the snow . . .So that we may well pray that the ground may not be laid bare by a thaw in these short winter days.")

December 18, 1853 ("The western hills, these bordering it, seen through the clear, cold air, have a hard, distinct edge against the sunset sky.")

December 19, 1851 (".Now the sun sets suddenly without a cloud– & with scarcely any redness following so pure is the atmosphere – only a faint rosy blush along the horizon.")

December 20, 1851 ("The sun goes down apace behind glowing pines, and golden clouds like mountains skirt the horizon.")

December 21, 1851 ("How swiftly the earth appears to revolve at sunset, which at midday appears to rest on its axle!")

December 23, 1851 ("I see that there is to be a fine, clear sunset, and make myself a seat in the snow on the Cliff to witness it.")

December 25, 1851 (“I go forth to see the sun set. Who knows how it will set, even half an hour beforehand ?”)

December 25, 1858 ("How full of soft, pure light the western sky now, after sunset! . . . In a pensive mood I enjoy the complexion of the winter sky at this hour.")

December 27, 1853 ("It is a true winter sunset, almost cloudless, clear, cold indigo-y along the horizon.")

January 11, 1852 ("The glory of these afternoons, though the sky may be mostly overcast, is in the ineffably clear blue, or else pale greenish-yellow, patches of sky in the west just before sunset.")

January 17, 1852 (“In proportion as I have celestial thoughts, is the necessity for me to be out and behold the western sky sunset these winter days. That is the symbol of the unclouded mind that knows neither winter nor summer. . . .As the skies appear to a man, so is his mind.")

January 26, 1852. ("Would you see your mind, look at the sky.")

Long after the sun has set,

and downy clouds have turned dark,

and the shades of night

have taken possession of the east, 

some rosy clouds will be seen

in the upper sky

over the portals 

of the darkening west. 

December 21, 1851

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau,  The Season of Two Twilights

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season, 

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2025