Sunsets

There is something glorious about a sunset.

But what is it about them that make them so special?

Every night, the sun goes down.

It’s normal.

But the almost ostentatious splendor of a sunset cannot be captured by a photograph. Words do not describe aptly how one feels when confronted with such beauty.

One might call them a daily masterpiece or miracle, turning the largest canvas – the heavens – into a display of most colorful array imaginable.

A good sunset is universally beautiful. Though humanities customs and habits may change throughout the centuries we all have basked in the normalcy of a breathtaking sunset. As author John Green once said, “Our ancestors did not eat like us or travel like us. Their relationship to fundamentals like light and time were vastly different from ours. But every human who has live more than a few years on this planet has seen a beautiful sunset and paused to spend one of the last moments of day to be grateful for and overwhelmed by the light.”

who are you, little I

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window; at the gold

of November sunset

(and feeling: that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

e. e. cummings

Provincetown, Massachusetts seems to put on a grand finale at the end of each day with its renown sunsets. I have had the pleasure of painting them from life. Provincetown is positioned at the tip of Cape Cod, essentially making it a land mass that juts far out into the ocean. When we go out to paint the sunset, we drive up a massive sand dune at the edge of town, completely alone. The wind whips around us in a fury (that or the bugs come out and eat you alive!). The event seems violent and extreme. Every time I witness and attempt to capture the sunset, I think I must be in a fantasy world. These colors, this display of nature – it can’t be real! There are times when the performance of the sun, sky, and clouds is so unbelievable, it takes one’s breath away.

I’m not sure if everyone gets to witness a beautiful sunset. But I know everyone has a memory of the most beautiful sunset that they have seen. When I take the time to look, when I get the chance to see a magnificent sunset, I get hit again (as if for the first time) with a realization of pure beauty. I wish that I would keep that moment in the forefront of my heart. Looking at such beauty shocks us into recognizing life with clearer eyes. But it’s so easy to forget. I know it’s easy to forget because every sunset feels like my first sunset.  I think I would live differently if I always remembered what it feels like to be alive with eyes that see beauty rather than myopically looking at my problems.