Why I Wake Early! Don't Go Back to Sleep!

I love the time change!  Not for the extra hour of sleep, but for the light ~ the extra hour of morning sunlight!  I've always been an early riser, even as a teenager when all of my friends & my siblings relished sleeping in until noon.  The colors in the morning sky are so vibrant & the air sparkles with aliveness.  The best part, though, is the quiet.  The morning silence is my time to melt into the Presence that is always here, but often overshadowed by all the other stuff.  Stuff to do, places to go, appointments to keep...

So, even though the days are short and the sky is often that November gray, today the sun is shining brightly, the sky is radiantly blue, and the breeze is so soft on my face.  Two poems come to mind.  The first by Mary Oliver and the second, Rumi.  Am I overdoing this?

Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who made the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Why I Wake Early, 2004)

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.


~Rumi~