By Jules Watson
Up and down the Hudson, past the promenade, under the arch, and onto the river path is a row of lampposts that gleam brightly at dusk and stand still and austere as soldiers.
Except for one near the old 79th Street boat basin that just won’t turn on.
I have often wondered if these structures have minds and hearts of their own, although they appear steely and inanimate to the human eye.
When the seductive summer breeze turns into a cool and sharp wind, there is somehow a different shade of light they cast, a burning glow, that is one of the charming and enchanted harbingers of autumn in New York…
Not everyone believes in magic, but so many things have happened in my life that cannot be explained from an intellectual or scientific point of view that what I’m about to tell you will either make you smile and say “What a vivid imagination” or “That’s happened to me, too.”
One afternoon as an impossibly beautiful amber sun was sinking below the horizon I was profoundly concentrated, remembering an old friend, long gone from this world, and taken too young.
In that moment, I felt her presence so intensely.
Did I catch a flicker of light from the forever dark lamppost?
I shivered, wondering if miracles are possible.
When we long for someone after they’re gone and dream of a sign, can they appear while sitting alone on a bench, as the river rolls by at nightfall…?
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Been there!
What a beautiful, meditative piece by Jules Watson, it surely resonates with me. And Joe Watson’s photo is so striking and evocative, the perfect accompaniment.
I believe in magic! Thank you for this beautiful story.
Touching and beautiful. And no, you’re not alone! Thanks for sharing.
Magic is in the Mind, but not in the World.
It is not your imagination. Many, many times when I have been alone and walking at night back to my apartment on the west side ( I am a nurse) as I thought of my twin flame , also taken too soon, an always broken street lamp would suddenly turn on ( way brighter than it’s working brethren). As I walked briskly to my building and stepped in – a look over my shoulder confirmed the lamp slowly dimming and turning off. You just know when it’s magic and when it’s not.