The season of two twilights.

 

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. See December 8, 1854 (“There is a glorious clear sunset sky, soft and delicate and warm”); 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 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 18, 1853 ("The western hills, these bordering it, seen through the clear, cold air, have a hard, distinct edge against the sunset sky. "); December 20, 1854 ("The sky in the eastern horizon has that same greenish-vitreous, gem-like appearance which it has at sundown, as if it were of perfectly clear glass, —with the green tint of a large mass of glass.");  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. Would you know your own moods, be weather-wise.")

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 ©  2009-2023