Could I spend any longer? Part 2

At the reserve during the day, I learned it was the bat survey night. So, I went home for a few hours and then returned. But I returned an hour early. No choice, then, another hour with the trees.

First, I scanned the field for the hares, who had not been there that afternoon. There they were. One fifty yards away, one up in the top corner. the one closer to me seemed to be looking toward the other one. I heard a dreadful noise from the road, some malfunctioning car, and saw that two crows and the distant hare had been scared away from the hedge. the crows landed, but the hare ran. It ran right down to the other corner, and the hare closer to me followed. I watched their tails bob away.

I stayed where I was... and suddenly, I saw them return. It seemed they were playing. One would bolt into long grass, then leap out and chase the other, and then they'd swap over.

When they left, I realised I had been standing there for half an hour.

In the wood, I thought I would visit the Goddess Oak.

"Oh. He told you about making peace with the darkness?"

Yes, I replied.

"It's not just that the darkness is inevitable, death, suffering and so on, but that it's in all beings, humans no more than any other. And it is a useful quality."

This stunned me.

"Everyone uses the darkness to survive. Problem with you humans is too much power and too stupid to realise than the darkness used wrongly will kill you. Not that you're more stupid than anyone else, but that given your power, through some other sort of smarts, you think you can control the darkness. You cannot. It is at the core of all of us, but we need more wisdom than power to use it well."

The sun was setting as I walked to meet the group.

We did see bats. Not as many as last month, but it was good.