Crepuscular is a Word I’d Never Heard

I read it in a book last week and I had to stop and look it up.

It means resembling twilight (before sunrise or after sunset) or active in twilight. Like deer...or skunks. 

And I thought, isn’t that a perfect word for now? Because twilight is a strange light that isn’t always clear and casts no shadows. It’s quiet and otherworldly and strangely unsettling. And you can’t look away, because the alteration of the light alerts you that change is happening all around you and you don’t know where to look next...or what to look for.

It creates an atmosphere of opposites – of safety or uncertainty, of enchantment or evil, of romance or fear – but never clarity.  

At sunset, the sky and atmosphere evolve into darkness. It’s unavoidable. But night passes and becomes day and sunrise literally means that brightness is coming after the dark.

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”

– Bernard Williams