Who Switches On the Stars?

The sun worked hard all day.

It shone on the park. It shone on the puddles. It shone on your lunch and your toes and the dog next door.

Now the sun is going home to rest. Down, down, down it goes. And the sky gets dark… and darker… and darker.

But wait. Look up. Do you know what the dark is for?

Watch.

Blink! One little star switches on.

There it is! The very first one! It was there all day, you know — but the sun shines so big and so bright that the little stars can’t be seen. They have to wait for the dark. The dark is their turn.

Blink! Two stars.

Blink, blink! Four stars!

Blink, blink, blink! — oh, now they’re coming on everywhere, fast as popcorn — seven, eight, nine, ten-eleven-twelve — too many to count, and MORE behind those, tiny ones, shy ones, whole spilled sugar-fulls of them!

Every single one was waiting for the dark.

So that’s the secret. The dark doesn’t take the light away.

The dark is how the little lights get their turn to shine.

The big sun has its turn, all day.

The little stars have their turn, all night.

And you? You have both turns — playing in the sun-turn, sleeping in the star-turn, while all those little lights blink and twinkle over your roof like a thousand tiny night-lights that never, ever run out.

Blink, say the stars. We’re on duty. Sleep well, little one.

Goodnight, big sun. See you at breakfast.

Goodnight, little stars. Shine your shine.

It’s your turn now.