Its only after the fact that I realize how slightly macbre it is to describe something beautiful as "looking like a city is on fire". Or maybe its just a telling of how slightly skewed my brain is to find that thought appealing.
On the drive to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, we left very early in the morning. I sat there in the driver's seat, coffee in hand, hunched over the wheel, trying to pay attention to the road ahead of me despite the severe sleep deprivation... It had finally stopped raining so my eyelids were doing better at holding themselves in an upright position.
The sun was thinking about coming up on the horizon. The sky was still black and thick with clouds, so the sunlight was reflecting off the low lying clouds- turning them orange and red in the distance. Were you to drive towards a city on fire at night- it would have the same appearance, I'm certain of it. The clouds looked like black smoke, hovering above the blazing city.
It was amazing. So imagine my disappointment when the red faded, turning the sky, and all its clouds, the dull grey of dawn. No cities had burned that morning. Not a single one. Well, maybe one, somewhere. But not on I-20 towards Shreveport.
