Honestly, it was the morning sky.

November sun, rare this year,
knocking at the edges of the earth,
sending up flares —
pink, yellow,
that soft peach tone
peculiar to pre-winter,

and my dawn-clear eyes
drew to the window
and beyond
and then I wasn’t really there
in the kitchen, not quite,

like some long bony hand
reached in and through glass,
pulled me through
and I slipped from carpet to deck
without shattering,

or maybe I did stumble to the door
and unlock, and step down,
and feel the leaf-lined decking
against my calloused soles.

No matter how,
I got there,
was there,
right there
with a grace that is
the invitation to stop.

And stare.

And occupy a moment,
allow my edges
to soften
and begin to expand
and take up space
so there is only moment,
not me
or sunrise
or window
or cold,

and that was my detangling,
my daily decision
to keep tender hold
to this life
as if it were orphan
and I, some great full breast,
was made to receive this
tiny bawling thing

delivered new
each break of morning,

and shape it with my hands,
and be all things nourishing,
and love it well, as it was made,
before releasing it
to its own
destined wind.
~Melinda Coppola “It was the morning sky”

Each morning I wake before sunrise,
urged forth from my warm bed
as if called to soothe a hungry crying child.

Instead, it is I who is empty,
humbled to insignificance
to witness sky spilling abundant colors.

In response, I pour out everything I have,
to feed and fill each new emerging dawn,
through wondering words of grateful praise.