Near Dawn 破晓

There was an early morning in the late summer. Outside it was still dark, with light wind. I was sitting near the window and observing the cloud. The color of the sky was getting bright while the cloud was moving. It was a serenely beautiful night to be broken by the first sunlight coming through the clouds. It reminds me of the myth of the Dutchman's Pipe Cactus flowers.

The Chinese chengyu (four-character idiom) 昙花一现(tan hua yi xian) uses this flower (tan-hua; 昙花) to describe someone who has an impressive but very brief moment of glory, like a "flash in a pan," since an Epiphyllum oxypetalum plant might bloom only once a year over a few days. Therefore, someone described as "昙花一现" is generally understood to be a person who shows off or unexpectedly gains some achievement and is thought to be an exception or only lucky. The flower has a rich history in Japan, where it is known as the 月下美人 (Gekka Bijin) or "Beauty under the Moon". This flower is also known as the queen of the night, night-blooming cereus or lady of the night is a species of cactus.

The piece 'Near Dawn' was inspired by the Dutchman’s pipe cactus flowers. When the dawn comes, the flower closes itself up again and we leave it behind.