"The Dark Before the Dawn" - Original Poetry
I wrote this post in response to this post, about Orion, which is and has always been, my favorite constellation.
And I spoke in my last post about Bear choosing his own name, when I had originally chosen to call him Orion, but he had other ideas.
As I didn't have any photos handy of Orion, I figured this photo of Bear as a kitten, with his WUSTL bear, would be an excellent substitute. ;-)
This is one of my favorite poems that I have ever written, written in February 1999, originally about the pre-dawn walks my former husband I used to take when he was trying to regain his health after giving up his 3-pack-a-day cigarette habit. We did a lot of brainstorming on those walks, saw some beautiful and amazing wildlife, and both loved the time spent.
The Dark Before the Dawn
Upon a morning clear and dark
The dark before the dawn
I walk the quiet neighborhood
Orion's almost gone
The stars are friends I've come to know
And view when I am able
For in this world of chaos
They appear uniquely stable
Appearances deceive I know
And stars are no exception
Yet I never fail to notice
How they open my perception
When young I moved across this land
A continent afar
And though the land was new and strange
I saw familiar stars
It brought me such a comfort
One I never could explain
For my sky had traveled with me
In my luggage on the plane
And when my world was broken
And I had nowhere to turn
In the night I had Orion
I would sit and watch him burn
And one day when I traveled
To a land across the sea
New stars were mingled with the old
And brought some peace to me
For though this place was stranger still
The language, too, unknown
Still a piece of sky came with me
And it brought a sense of home
I am thankful I'm a sailor
For in sailing through the years
The stars upon the water
Bring a thinking soul to tears
For sailing is when time permits
The way to see the stars
The fullness of the sky
The Milky Way and angry Mars
While sailing in a steady breeze
Upon a gentle sea
The glory of the universe
Envelops tiny me
As we smoothly slice the water
Phosphorescent sparks aglow
Adding greatly to the magic
Stars above and stars below
When I think of the explorers
And of sailors long gone by
What a leap of faith it must have been
To leave familiar sky
So I thank those great explorers
And I cherish every one
For without their faith I never
Could have done what I have done
Orion is in view again
His scabbard and his sword
And turning not away from strife
But always, ever, toward
And so it is this winter's sky
I'll miss until next year
For that bravest of a winter brave
Upon a morning clear
I walk homeward through the dawning
With the stars now all but gone
Thanking God for fading starlight
As I wait tomorrow's dawn.
1Feb99, rev 13Aug2005, rev. 03Jun2006
This poem was edited from the original following my separation and later divorce from my then-husband.
This changes not at all my gratitude that we began these walks together, that we had some of our best ever talks on those walks, and that those are the memories I cherish most, that showed him for the truly good man that he was, even when he sometimes forgot that. Life is wonderful.
And I would love to hear your take in the comments.
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All words and images are my own.
The photo of Bear as a kitten was taken with one of my Canon PowerShot digital cameras, though at this late date, I wouldn't hazard a guess as to the model number, because I frankly have no clue. But they have ALL been great cameras.
The photo of our dog, Lolo, and our late cat, Miod, I took as they were cooperatively begging at the dinner table, despite our longstanding rule of not feeding them from the table.
You can see how much that deterred them both.
Resteeming is welcome, you may link to my post from your own website or blog, and you may use excerpts and/or images as long as you credit me, and link back to this post.
Please ask for permission, before using my work otherwise, as all rights are reserved.
these are beautiful words collected by you .nice effort and very creative ..stay blessed
follow me on my POST and BLOGS and appreciate me UP-VOTE and RESTREEM @ahsanbukhari
Thanks for reading and commenting! I'll check out your posts tomorrow.
Have a great evening/day, wherever you may be. ;-)
Cori, you and I are on the same wavelength! I had not checked your newsfeed today; just saw you reply to my post about watching TV, which moved me to speak of night stars and such; then I go to your feed, and first thing I see is talk of your "favorite constellation," Orion, and a lovely poem about the night and other wonders of nature. You're like a surrogate of my lost sister Julie. :-) I was just reading about ancestral memories - not just an idea of Carl Jung's, but a scientifically verifiable phenomenon, memories encoded in our DNA. That could explain so many things (not just arachnophobia, e.g.). But I digress... LOVE the dog and cat at the table even though they KNEW it was taboo.
Too funny - and I just used the phrase "but I digress" on another response to you not five minutes ago lol!
As for the dog and kitties at the table, Marek and I regularly "catch" each other breaking our rule, so it's not all that surprising that they pretty much ignore it.
Bear can be such an insistent beggar that, when Marek isn't home, I usually close the door to the office and eat in there, so that I can eat unmolested. It's a whole lot easier than trying to eat while holding my plate in midair, though probably not as funny if someone else were observing. ;-)
Our dog is also named Bear! Someday if we list how much we have in common, we'll be continuing the list until we're both getting "Happy Birthday, Centenarian" letters from the President.
LOLOL!!! Very likely. ;-)
When we had our Newfy mix, Sprinkles, and I was first getting to know Marek's kids, his son Kamil commented a couple of times that Sprinkles should have been named Bear, rather than my cat.
But I already had Bear, when I adopted Sprinkles, so no. I wasn't going to change his name at 4 1/2 years of age.
I hear you! Our dog Bear came with the name Bear, and the Maine Coon I once adopted came with the name Merlin. However, "Kamik" just didn't fit the cat now known as Bobinski. He was 8 months old, had been at the pound for three months, which was long enough for him to learn to keep silent when potential slaves arrived to bail him out of one-cat-only cage. Oh, the things we've learned... expensive lessons from a Cat Tyrant! Names, though -- yes, you can change a pet's name, but it's easier to stick with the one they know. Bobinksi, however, knows he has at least 20 names. Bo-Brat, Bo-Fink, Bo-Creep... Bob-a-Lob, Blob-inski, Bobber, Bobbit, Bob-Face,Bobwick, Bob-Rick, Bob the Bad...
Good to know he's a well-rounded cat.
It's like the meme says, cats remember being worshiped in Egypt, and they'll never let us forget our true place. I, too am a kitty slave, and here I am courting a new potential master. Glutton for punishment. ;-)
For though this place was stranger still
The language, too, unknown
Still a piece of sky came with me
And it brought a sense of home
I am thankful I'm a sailor
For in sailing through the years
The stars upon the water
Bring a thinking soul to tears
I love this!!! So much -- all of it!
Thank you. It has long been one of my favorites.
Our shared love of stargazing is a large part of how we ended up where we are living now - we are midway between Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, with the closest cities of any size half an hour in any direction, and our closest town, Sparta, which is also our county seat, rolls up the sidewalks promptly at five o'clock. And half the businesses are still shuttered due to the recession.
As a result, we have no light pollution, so even before it is fully dark, we can usually clearly see the Milky Way, and meteor showers here are spectacular.
When I lived in Largo, I had to drive two hours north to Ocala for a night sky this dark. Now I just turn off my porch lights and walk outside. And it is even darker down by the studio, because it is lower than the main house, between two hollows, and surrounded by tall trees. We have a second smaller fire pit in the clearing there.
Here again is a keeper of a reply - so descriptive, so lyrical! Bonded by your love of stargazing, driving two hours for night sky without light pollution, the local history, the scenes, moods, atmospheres you create in so few words - you're such a natural writer, everything you write is polished and publishable!
Thank you, Carol.
I've been told that for much of my life, but only comparatively recently have I begun to believe it. ;-)
But then, I grew up reading such exemplary writers, that when your comparisons are masters at their craft, it's not hard to view oneself as coming up short. The bottom line is to keep writing every day, which I've been doing for some time now.