The rising sun had crowned the hills,
And added beauty to the plain;
O grand and wondrous spectacle!
That only nature could explain.
I stood within a leafy grove,
And gazed around in blissful awe;
The sky appeared one mass of blue,
That seemed to spread from sea to shore.
Far as the human eye could see,
Were stretched the fields of waving corn.
Soft on my ear the warbling birds
Were heralding the birth of morn.
While here and there a cottage quaint
Seemed to repose in quiet ease
Amid the trees, whose leaflets waved
And fluttered in the passing breeze.
O morning hour! so dear thy joy,
And how I longed for thee to last;
But e’en thy fading into day
Brought me an echo of the past.
‘Twas this,—how fair my life began;
How pleasant was its hour of dawn;
But, merging into sorrow’s day,
Then beauty faded with the morn.
~Olivia Ward Bush-Banks “Morning on Shinnecock”
The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn,
As a lone bird, soft winging, so restlessly on,
Afar o’er life’s turrets and vales does it roam
In the wake of those echoes the heart calls home.
~Georgia Douglas Johnson from The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems
For what human ill does not dawn seem to be an alleviation?
~Thornton Wilder from The Bridge of San Luis Rey
There are some days, as I look at what tasks lie ahead, when I must fling my heart out ahead of me in the hope before the sun goes down, I might catch up and retrieve it back home to me.
I wonder if anyone else might find it first or even notices it fluttering and stuttering its way through the day.
Perhaps, once flung with the dawn, my heart will wing its way home and I’ll find it patiently waiting for me when I return, readying itself for another journey tomorrow.
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Emily, your ‘heart’s journey’ ‘side trip’ today is so whimsical, delightful.
And a new ‘find,’ Georgia Douglas Johnson’s powerful poem, is startling,
considering its early ode to women’s rights, dignity, worth, etc. I followed
through to read some of her other poetry — treasures, pathos to be sure.
Thank you for today’s feast.
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Both of the songs in this entry are absolutely beautiful. Thank you for making such thoughtful selections.
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