Northern Lights Over Alaska

The arctic night is long and still, when o'er the dark and distant hill

A faint touch in the ebony sky, a glimmer of light seen on high.

Faint it appears in the dark of the night,  Stronger it grows, spreading it's light

In bands that waver and gracefully flow,  it arcs the sky, moving fast, then slow.

Veils of color transparent and clear grow in intensity as they draw ever near,

Pulsing and swaying in spirals and bands, weaving continual glistening, gossamer strands.

It climbs in a profusion of colorful height, then fades away to ethereal white,

Leaving no hint, nor even a trace of its' rainbow hue or it's wavering grace.

An enchanting, mystical, spellbinding scene leaving one peaceful, awed and serene.

A heavenly drama performed, it seems, nowhere on earth....except in our dreams.

The first time I saw the Northern Lights I was a child in northeastern Montana.  Dad called us out on a chilly November evening to see the lights that wavered in a thin line on the distant northern horizon.  Even then, they caught my imagination, but little did I know that night that one night I would stand directly below the breathtaking panorama of moving color.

The winter my son was born I saw them in awesome splendor.  We had gone to dinner with friends in late January and on the way home we stopped at the top of Chena Ridge and stepped out of the car to watch the display of lights.  There are no words that can come close to describing the scene or the sensations of that night.  The closest I can possibly come is to liken them to the brilliant shimmering gossamer veil that dazzles the senses on a world wide beauty pageant back drop curtain.  This curtain stretched across the darkened sky from horizon to horizon - every color vibrant and alive.  Then suddenly the colors intensified at the upper region and dropped quickly giving my stomach the same dropping sensation as a sudden fall would.  As they hung suspended in the northern sky, it was as if a breezed stirred and from one end to the other, the curtain wavered and shimmered.  Then once again it began to build.  We watched thrilled and fascinated as the scene replayed again and again in various waves and undulations.  That particular performance would be hard to beat and I have seen none since to compare.

I would see them many times more, but more after I was living alone and took the time to go out into the winter cold to scan the heavens above.  I would dress warmly, drop down onto my back on the snow in the yard and watch the show above - always knowing that I was missing some portion happening behind me and always wishing that I could take the whole of it in.

Fairbanks, Alaska is one of the two best places in the world to view the Northern Lights - the other place being Spitsbergen, Norway.  A growing tourism industry is growing around the lights.  The Japanese come in ever growing numbers to see the lights, but this, too is another story...............