Yesterday in the Fading Light

Yesterday in the fading light, the sun slipped low and peered up at the cloud-folds. They acted as a scrim to the softening sunlight, rays shining warm shades of orange and pale rose along the edges of stray cloud-trails.I was driving west on a country road and slowed the car down to take it in.No cars behind me, so I stopped completely at a four-way stop and waited.The colors slipped away, the sun pulling them down, below the horizon, the sky dimming.A huge formation of Canada geese honked and flapped. So many trying to stay together–they were sagging a bit. More of a U than a V formation. And northwest. They were flying northwest.Nearly silhouettes against the oranges fading fast to the soft remaining glow of blue-gray dusk, the geese suddenly jumbled.Wings flapping, big torpedo-bodies weaving, almost slamming into each other. A struggle of some sort? Would some plummet to the ground in such confusion?Then.Mid-air, they reformed.No longer one sagging U, they created three groups.One goose led the largest number. Together, tighter, they formed a perfect V.Only a few geese streamed behind the leaders of the other two groups, but they also were able to form a true V.The three groups kept pace, seeming to stay together–three groups with the same goal. Instead of carpooling, they chose to caravan.Also, this time, instead of angling northwest, each group pointed perfectly north.As I drove back home, I thought about the geese. I thought, Surely there’s a devotional thought here.Maybe.Or maybe it was just a moment for me to slow down and see.Instead of forcing insight, I’m simply enjoying the final tableau in my mind:Late-dusk deepening blues and purples.Three groups of geese.Arrows, aiming north, straight and trueToward home.