Sunrise, Sunset

Same Sun, Same Day (2 Aug 2006)

With the dawn of day comes the promise of things to come,
It comes with both the hopes and fears of life.
The shining of the sun is warmth and light,
A casting away of darkness.

With the dusk of day comes the memory of things that came,
It goes with both the broken hopes and the unrealized fears of life.
The twilight of the sun is cooling and fading,
A welcoming of the shadow.

We can't exist with just one; both are needed and necessary,
And like all things, the sun and its phases, like the moon,
Give us reminders... time waits for no one.

Slumber in Childhood

I grew up in the era of half-day kindergarten.

This meant that I had to go to daycare afterwards, and even before kindergarten, when I was in daycare (it was NOT pre-school; it did do crafts and activities, but it was meant as entertainment and not necessarily learning), we had nap time.

I was always a child who enjoyed sleeping. I could basically sleep at the drop of a hat (and no, I'm not narcoleptic; I don't just sleep at the drop of a hat.)

But, the sense of "nap" has never left me. In college, I enjoyed the classes that allowed for me to return to my dorm room and nap, then go back to class. Free and easy snoozing an hour away.

I still enjoy naps. Even now, if I can find time for a nap, I will have one. As for sleeping at the drop of a hat, I have napped sitting up unpropped in a chair for as long as 15 min. I am bad. :)

I guess I'm just trying to retain my youth, eh?

Four Elements: Air

It is alive... it carries the rain in its hands
And feeds the fire down below
And can travel across the land with both
quickening speed and languid gait.

It is nurturing... the stern breath we take
And the breath we give back
It asks nothing and everything
Through loud and quiet and light.

It is father... the one that looks over us
It carries the balm and the chill
It envelops us for good or bad
In its ethereal cradle.

It is air... the wind and the sky
It shows itself yet is unseen
A silence that boths calms and deafens.

Four Elements: Earth

It is still... terra firma, which gives us so much
It yields to the water that dances with it
And to the fire that dances on it
And the sky that dances over it.

There is a world on it, and a world below
It can nourish when in balance, deprive when
In drought, and mire when in flood.

It is mother... from which we spring
And to which we return
And while we are on it, it gives us shelter
Like the plants that surround us.

It is earth... the rock and the shoal
It shakes and rolls, and stands and supports
A protector from all others.

Four Elements: Water

It is still... barely an echo or a ripple
As it lies quiet, yet it can pierce the air
And the fire like flintrock through a heart
And covers the land in moribund fashion.

It is starving... always teeming with life
And dancing with death, keeping some forever
Afloat, and other forever drowned
Yet it hungers...

It is renewal... the angel of cleansing
Of ritual and of regimen from long ago
Flowing through us, over us, onto us
And surrounds us...

It is water... the cool and the cauldron
It clears and it muddies
A torrent that can at once be quiet.