Ode to the Sun
I read this poem a few days ago in one of my daily emails and it so resonated with me…
Ode to the Sun by Eloise Bibb Thompson (public domain)
How many scenes, O sun,
Hast thou not shone upon!
How many tears, O light,
Have dropped before thy sight!
How many heart-felt sighs,
How many piercing cries,
How many deeds of woe,
Dost thy bright light not know!
How many broken hearts,
That are pierced by sorrow’s darts
How many maddened brains,
That are wild with passion’s rains;
How many soul-sick lives,
Stabbed with despair’s sharp knives,
Hast thou above the skies,
Not seen with thy radiant eyes!
Shine on, majestic one!
Shine on, O glorious sun!
And never fail to cheer
My life so dark and drear.
Whene’er thou shinest bright,
And show thy brilliant light,
The cares I know each day
Silently steal away.
I know I post a lot of sunrise/sunset (especially sunrise) photos but I feel that there’s something so wonderfully restorative and healing about those moments - be they the sunset like I wrote in my last post where it was at the end of a full day and hearing the fullness of life all around or the quiet stillness of a sunrise like I saw today.
I love the end of Zechariah’s words in Luke 1:78-79
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.
Yes. Yes. Yes again.