Velvet Streamers

~ purple mountains majesties
The day before had been nice and toasty warm though the temperature dropped during the night while the dew was rising. It gave everything a coating of creamy softness that I've always called a white night. I was walking in the moist morning on my way to get fresh water when it just seemed the view opened up for me. Its always been there. I've passed it a kazillion times. So has everyone else but the misty blanket made it come alive. Mountains in the background that usually disappeared into the colors of the sky looked like delicate layers of mauve, purple and a deep blue. The rolling vapors seemed to twine them in velvet streamers. I stood there mesmerized, breathless for a long time. I even felt tears touch my lashes it was so beautiful.
It was a low trumpet of exaled breath that diverted my attention. While I was absorbed in the view of the landscape, two bucks had wandered into the shoals of the stream in an age old rite of dominion. I could almost feel that first crashing strike of horn against horn run through me. The shedding of the summer coat on the branches of their horns left trails of brown ribbons waving in the air with each movement. Their posture would begin sleek, streamlined with their necks elongated, chests puffed up with ... do tabuk have testosterone? They looked like two old country gentlemen when they bowed their heads. "After you" ... "no, I insist after you". There really wasn't anything civilized about it. It was raw pure battle for dominance that would ram the foreheads together. The horns resounding in a deafening crunch, I was sure would wake the rest of the harriga.
Set against this backdrop of soft pastel hues, they seemed larger than life. It was natures cake with lots of icing. I wanted to cup it all up in my hands, try to wedge my fingers together tight so none of it could seep between them and take them to ... Yes. Wouldn't it have been a wonderful gift, to be able to have seen it, to have been able to feel how majestic it was.