Why “starshine” is a great word
STARSHINE — [Noun] The faint, collective light emanating from distant celestial bodies. From the English words 'star' (celestial body) + 'shine' (to emit light). Unlike 'sunlight,' the specific, overwhelming glare of our nearest star, or 'moonlight,' its borrowed and theatrical reflection, starshine is the direct, democratic, and ancient gleam of innumerable suns. It is the cold silver dusting on a midnight lake, the spectral glitter on a frost-covered field, and the patient, almost imperceptible touch on an upturned face—light that has journeyed so long it arrives not as illumination, but as a whisper from distant, enduring fires.