… And then I feel the sun itself as it blazes over the hills, like a million flowers on fire– clearly I am not needed, yet I feel myself turning into something of inexplicable value… Mary Oliver This poem reminds me of my 16th summer when I would run or bike during sunrise in the summer. Sun rises around 4:30 to 5 o’clock in late June in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I would stay up all night and get myself out the door when the atmosphere takes on a blue hue – a little past four. The breathtaking views and the scenery that changes its colors and gesture with each passing minute always made me feel present and awake. And Mary Oliver’s beautiful picture of the rising sun as a million flowers on fire in this poem “The Buddha’s Last Instruction” moved me because it perfectly described my feelings from those late June days six years ago. My aim for this project was to entertain that imagery while making a lighting effect that makes the audience feel the way I felt: as though I should breathe quieter to not distract from the scenery.