It is 2:25am and I am alone. The air is still, and cold. I am not wearing a shirt. I light my cigarette with the open flame at the altar. I hear the crackle. It is a menthol cigarette. The metallic taste fills my mouth, my chest opens up and my nerves tingle pleasurably.

I step outside. It is dark, and quiet. I sit in my freshly painted swing. Inhale, exhale. The smoke passes through the rays of light from a street lamp across the road as they diffuse through the leaves of a hibiscus plant. The lines are beautiful. I contemplate the electromagnetic spectrum. The swing creaks softly and steadily.

I am alone, but not really. I hear the chirping, busy activity of insects. I contemplate the complexity and diversity of the biosphere. A lone taxi goes past me in the distance, with a driver inside, just as alone as I am- a human being with experience and knowledge, with genetic information passed down from hundreds of generations through millions of years. How has his day been? Where is he going? The creak of the swing gets louder.

The trees in the distance sway and shake softly in the wind. The smoke rises gently. Inhale, exhale. The swing creaks.

I hear the sounds of television in the distance. Someone else is awake. All over the world, people are awake. I return to document the experience. I hear the whirring of my computer and the comforting tapping of keys as I type. I contemplate the marvel of human technology, that this piece of machinery before me is capable of recording my thoughts and sharing them with others.

I am alone, but not really. I am surrounded by life, I am the sum of billions of years, I am at peace and I am calm. This moment, this experience is mine, and in this moment I am infinite. In this moment, even if there were to never be another, I am honoured to be alive.