SUNSET
AND EVENING STAR
Outline:
1.
The solemnity of a sunset.
2.
The beginning of the sunset.
3.
The sun sinks from sights; but the
clouds still lit up.
4.
The evening star appears.
5.
The mysterious charm of twilight.
6.
The coming of silent night.
There is something solemn, and even
awe-inspiring, in the splendid beauty of the sky as the sun sets in the west.
The poet Wordsworth felt it when he wrote:-
“The clouds that gather round the
setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an
eye
That hath kept watch o’er man’s
morality.’
Your should watch the sun setting
behind the mountains. As it slowly sinks lower in the western sky, its long
level beams light up the green fields and all the trees and bushes with a glow,
making every object clear and distinct. The clouds above the sinking sun begin
to glow with a golden light, and the mountains are clothed in royal purple. The
white dome and minarets of mosque a little distance away look as though they
were made of silver.
At last the great fiery ball of the
sun begins to sink behind the purple mountain wall. Lower and lower it sinks,
until, look! It is gone! But its light still fills the sky and the over-hanging
clouds. The clouds change from gold to red, till they glow like a smoldering
fire. The clear sky between the lower cloud-banks and the mountain ridge is
slowly changes to a clear pale green; and in the midst of it shines a faint
point of silver light-the evening star. And in the still air a musical voice
begins chanting-the Muezzin crying the Azan from the distant mosque, calling
the faithful to prayer.
Now the glowing red of the clouds
begins to fade, like a dying fire. It fades away till all the clouds are grey
like ash, and the mountains look black, clear-cut against the pale green sky,
where the evening star is shining more brightly every moment.
Below on the plain, the light
gradually becomes dimmer and dimmer, until the twilight the fields are almost
dark, and trees and bushes stand out dead black. The twilight casts a
mysterious glamour over everything, and ordinary objects seem strange and
weird.
“Remote with unfamiliar charm
As dusk familiar objects seem,
And like strange pictures in a
dream
Are bush and tree and silent
stream,
And garden-croft and farm”.
Gradually it becomes darker and
darker, until nothing can be seen but the dark hills against the sky. One by
one the stars come out. The night has come. All is very still. No sound is to
be heard except the soft rustling of the night breeze in trees now unseen.
Another day has gone; but-
“We fret not when day wanes, and
farewell gleams
Of sundown fade to dusk, and dusk
to night,
Knowing the turning earth in its
wide way
Will swing us back again into the light.”