The night is silent. Very silent. For once, no one is screaming or crying or shouting or scolding someone else on the street. For once, no car engines are present to interrupt my train of thought. Even the phone is not ringing. Funny. So strange that it should be this quiet. I half expect pigs to take flight and paint the sky a delicate shade of pink. Though, of course, I would not be able to see the pigs, because the sky is so dark right now.
So, perhaps they are flying up there in the stratosphere, eh?

It's been a long time since I have actually been able to relax and spend some time alone. Annoying, really. Most nights are now spent doing work, or planning how to finish my work, or pass this test or that test.

First time in a long time that I've actually been able to just sit down and notice how peaceful it is right now. How utterly serene it is. Just now, a few birds chirped outside my window, under the awning, and another bird answered it; a little, soft bubbling call, and yet, the other bird heard it. Because it was so quiet, and everything is so still.

Moments like this are rare these days. To just be able to sit here and not think about work, or rather, not think entirely. I could just sit here all night, listening to the crickets and the restless bird outside my window, ignoring everything else...

And somewhere outside, in that impenetrable darkness, cats blink and stretch; the warm yellow lamp light illuminates their eyes and picks out the richness of their tawny coats. Like the adoring Magi, they stride purposefully across the empty, silent street, eyes darting across the road, watching for their prey, they do not need the lamps to catch the quick movement of a rat running across the road...

Further down the street, birds move and shift on their branches, hidden by foilage, heads under their wings. They do not hide away behind brick walls and gates like the 'superior race' of humans. No, even if they can be hunted down by cats. They are not afraid of the dark, even if their world is lit only by the street lamps at night - yet another huamn invention.

On nights like these, I feel like running out of the house onto the street. I think part of the reason why I love Nature so much is because the animals and creatures of Nature have no need of electrical implements like we do, they have learnt to survive with their instincts alone. The animals and insects fit into Nature, if you have not already noticed, most of the times, humans tear Nature apart in order to conquer it, to make it fit our world. I really do not see why it seems impossible for us to fit into Nature's world instead. After all, we have seen time and time again that Nature is always more powerful than us, and will continue being greater and more powerful than us. So, perhaps it would make more sense if we stopped forcing Nature to conform to our standards and perhaps learn to work our ways of living into Nature's world?

But somehow, I doubt anyone is going to realise that any time soon, so, for now, I will return to wandering the streets with my mind, and roaming through hidden places of greenery and beauty that no one else sees because they are all too busy contemplating the next million-dollar house they are going to build with that new alarm system...

Outside, a cat blinks, looking haughtily at the Mercedes Benz that just drove past it. I step out of my front door, jog lightly down the driveway, and join it.

Together, we explore the streets, seeing Nature at its best, while all around us, the 'superior race' toss restlessly in their beds and air-conditioned rooms.

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