WEBVTT

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The midnight air carried the scent of damp

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earth and night -blooming jasmine as the garden

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settled into a silvery slumber.

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Low -hanging mist drifted lazily across the flagstone

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paths, wrapping the sleeping flora

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in a ghostly, elegant embrace.

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It was an hour when the world belonged

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entirely to shadows and secrets.

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Then the silence broke with a soft, resonant

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rustle.

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From the edge of the ancient boxwood hedge,

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a shadow detached itself and stepped into

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the moonlight.

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It was a magnificent wildlife spectacle, a peacock

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of legendary stature.

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As the great bird paused by the reflecting

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pond, the full moon broke through the high

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canopy, bathing him in a luminous, celestial glow.

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With slow, deliberate grace, he fanned his magnificent

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tail feathers outward.

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A breathtaking constellation of iridescent greens, deep indigos,

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and glowing coppers

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bloomed in the dark.

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Every individual I spot caught the silvery night

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light, shimmering like captured starlight

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against the velvety blackness of the garden.

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The sheer detail of the plumed fan was

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mesmerizing, each filament catching the faint mist and

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refracting it into a thousand tiny, glowing prisms.

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He held the pose for a long, timeless

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moment, a living masterpiece standing proud against

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the night.

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Then, as softly as he had appeared, the

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peacock folded his radiant display, turned into the

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drifting fog, and melted back into the whispering

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dark, leaving the moon to rain over the

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quiet

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garden alone.