By The River

The other day, I took a leisurely cruise down the river in the evening.

As the sun dips low, the city comes alive with a million points of light, casting a golden halo over the world.

Skyscrapers loom over me. From my angle, the buildings look impossibly large, Gulliver to my Lilliputian. My breath hitches in my throat. How insignificant I am in the grand scheme of things.

Life buzzes on either side of the banks. The geometry and colours are dazzling. Suggestion of a city shimmers in the black waters, inverted. There is so much stimulation, yet, I’m cocooned in a sense of peace, buoyed by awe. I’m one with the nightlife yet apart.

This city, the one after dark, is very different from its day counterpart. Night softens the hard lines drawn by the sun, the shadows and man‑made light smudge and buff, until it becomes something ethereal.

Magical.

My heart expands from the beauty I’m soaking in.

I just fell in love with my city a little more.