Miserable and crotchety, I wake early nonetheless and sing

I love the changing seasons and what better time to give thanks for the birds I hear each morning when I take Cosette out than this day, Earth Day.  Our little flowers are poking out after a long winter. Grass is greening.  Buds are unfolding on the trees. The sap has run full and furious on our maple in the back.  Here's one of my favorite poems of earth and heaven, humility and glory. Thanks, Mary Oliver, for being the poet who helps us sing thanksgiving for earth.

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.

(Why I Wake Early, 2004)

Anon, and peace,

Chris