A thick mist hung on the waistline of the earth, that place where the clouds meet the waves that seem to roll of the edge of the planet. Beneath it a purple haze stained the sky, a halo embracing the sleepy mountains, mingling with the wet blue glow of the valley. Motionless. And I wondered how it could be, even as the earth lurched away from itself in its mindless silence and humble enormity…