Night Sky

The brilliance of the night sky hadn't occurred to him before.
So there he lay in awe, peering through the trees that gnarled their way upwards and drooped over his head. The cold wind brushed against his cheek, his skin was cool to touch. Strands of grass teased their way between his fingers. His body was trembling slightly, and the misty fog that formed his breath lingered for moments at a time. Yet there he lay, spellbound, with white sparkling eyes staring back at him.
    He had been laying for a while before he finally noticed the moon. Darkness had spread across the sky, but the shimmering rays seeped through the branches and bounced off his face like a single spotlight. He traced shapes among the stars until a shooting star raced across his canvas. He closed his eyes tightly and the soft whispers that parted from his lips whirled in the wind with the crisp autumn leaves.
It was tranquil where he lay, alone with his thoughts and the soft sound of trickling water from the river nearby. He lay longer still, listening to the rustle of leaves and the slow rhythm of his heart, breathing in slowly to take in the musty smell of the rich dark soil beneath him.
Yet soon the time that he dreaded the most was near, the long forgotten sunrise filled his dark haven with bursts of light, and the brilliance of the night sky was gone again.