The velvet tapestry of the night curved from horizon to horizon, flecked with thousands of tiny stars. There seemed all the more of them, for as well as filling the sky, they shimmered in an elegant ballet on the waves, the sea itself giving them life.

The unwelcome November rain had perversely stolen the day's last hour and pawned it with that ancient fence, the night.

Before we invented civilization our ancestors lived mainly in the open out under the sky. Before we devised artificial lights and atmospheric pollution and modern forms of nocturnal entertainment we watched the stars. There were practical calendar reasons of course but there was more to it than that. Even today the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years it still takes my breath away.

Not just beautiful, though--the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.

She had always loved the stars. But tonight, she felt as if they were watching her, waiting for her to fail.

I found a night’s sky full of stars
In your cinematic eyes
And heard a symphony
In your laughter.