"The night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake
I can feel myself fading away"

What gives the night such awesome power? In most of western literature, the night is synonymous with fear, sin, death. It also has the other side. Night is calm, boundless, romantic. Night is a time of ends, nothing of middle. In the Phantom of the Opera nightime "sharpens, heightens each sensation." I think that the power of night is one of solitude.

During the day things are warm. The sun is out, and thus so are people. Everything looks and sounds and if it is alive and you have to look to even find peace. It is difficult to be alone during the day, even when you want to be. The sun makes even your own room feel permeated with life. And the heat of the air carries with it a sense of movement, of activity and purpose. The sounds of constant traffic and of people walking and talking. Even sitting by yourself you still feel part of it and when you actually go out..... you are a part of it.

Night is different.

During the night the sky is black. There is, on occasion, the pale figure of the moon, but that is nothing but a mockery of the sun. The sun and blue sky of the day create an illusion of a roof. There looks to be a limit to where our world ends. But in the night and her blackness, all of infinite can be viewed. And the stars only serve to give the first glimpse of what infinite is. The air at night is chilled and thin. The wind dances around as if free of the heavy day-time stench. And the light stepping feet of the wind carry little sound of the world. So another connection to the world is lost.
Night, therefore, becomes the world of imagination. You can see forever in the sky, and so you may create what you will of it. In more ways than one, this is the time of dreams. Because in the night, you are alone. Not exactly by yourself, but removed from the world. If you are with a date, then the night sweeps you away from the prying eyes of others and gives you privacy. If you are with friends then the night can take you from the cares and toils of the day and just let you enjoy the company. And if you are, in fact, by yourself, then the night leaves you with your imagination to play and explore.

This can be what is scary about the night. For people who fear their subconscience, the lonliness of the night consumes them. They are terrified of what dreams may come out; of what nightmares. If what is on your mind is troubles, then the night's breath leaves you with only them, and no one to help cope. According to the Shawshank Redemption, "nothing but all the time in the world to think about it."

Funny. When I was listening to Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia", where I got the opening quote, all I could think of was this darker aspect of Night. Maybe if I listen to it again with a view from imagionation's hill...


"Let the dream begin,
Let your darker side give in
To the power of the Music that I write.
The power of the Music of the Night."