in the pre-dawn hours i awoke, and all was silent, the sounds of the city vanished in the darkness. i could not tell if it was the first deep breath of morning, before life began a new day, or if it was the death-knell marking the end of yesterday. in that briefest of moments, only one thing remains certain: i was there to witness it, and i lived fully in that moment, mourning the loss of one day and celebrating the beginning of another.