Early Rising

Because this day is so precious,

Because it will never, never come again,

Because, like yesterday, it will so soon be gone--

I rise early to greet it,

Rising to meet the sun,

Riding the rounded earth

As it turns ever so slowly toward the east.

This day will never, never come again.

Even its length is new and unique,

Never to be repeated,

Never to be replicated.

Last year’s December eleventh

Is not this year’s.

The clouds are different, and

Old neighbors have gone, and

New neighbors have come, and

The molecules lavishly spent

By earth and sun, flower and rain,

Breath and fire,

Have forever changed

The weight of earth,

The length of days.

--December 11, 2013