More Day to Dawn (A Prose-Poem)
Sunrise in the foothills
MORE DAY TO DAWN
Henry David Thoreau once wrote that
there is more day to dawn when the
sun is but a morning star. There are
several meanings to his words at the
end of his book Walden (1854) in that
there is obviously more day left at
dawn than any other time of day,
but there is a deeper meaning in that
we may be more acutely aware and open
to potentialities of life at dawn than at
noon or sunset or times later than dawn.
Why? Just look at the effect of pre-dawn
on the changing color of clouds and trees.
Watch a tree light up at sunrise from its
upper branches to the depths of its trunk.
Its upper canopy changes from orange to
red or pink until it gradually becomes its
usual self of a darkness of grey with deep
green leaves. But at dawn it evolves and
grows not only in color but also character.
It's as though the tree itself is in the very
act of creation. We humans can readily
join in this creative process by letting
our minds grow and expand in ways they
cannot in the heat of noon or at the death
of a day at sunset before our rebirth at
dawn when the sun is but a morning star.
Wake up, arise watch dawn's rosy fingers
spread across the sky and trees below
and across the mind of man and woman.
The title comes from Thoreau's Walden in which he concludes that there is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
See my hub on Thoreau: Irish Interest in Henry Thoreau
© 2010 Richard Francis Fleck