While Father is Away

A short piece that I have always been fond of. I wrote this while viewing a haunting Wyoming sunset.

The ultimate giver of life, venerated by everyone who has ever felt its warming embrace. The masculine counterpart of our Mother Earth, the Sun embodies the immortality and strength of not itself�"for it too will perish�"but of the undying and ceaseless strength of time without end. The temporal rage and anger of the Sun, balanced by the gentle sustainability of Earth; the Yin and Yang of our universe. Both engaged in a perfect union, one providing life, the other sustaining life. Growing brighter as it sets behind a backdrop of snow covered peaks�"a haunting visage of what the distant future holds�"light fades from the pale sky as Earth longs for the time when the two will be reunited. As night is increasingly reclaimed by darkness, the warmth of the Sun seems but a distant memory as mother lies dormant, longing for his return. The solace of the night air, thick with emotion, transports me to a place I find most peaceful, truly alone; mother and father are both away, one on a seemingly endless journey through the cosmos, the other lying peacefully still, reflecting on the sins of her children, children frightened by the return of the light when their misdeeds will surely be unveiled. Yet, they never are. For when the father returns, all are just as their mother, cold and unaware; unfeeling and unknowing. He readies himself with great excitement on every return, anticipation erupting on the surface, only to find it just as he had the previous dawn: cold and empty, void of concern. The children shed not a single tear for the perpetual abuse of his beloved. He grows weary and weak, strained from the torment of an endless millennia of futility�"

He expires.

Author's Note

This seems to be my only piece of writing that has gotten any attention (university contests, etc.). Any constructive criticism regarding my writing style?