Waiting for Dawn and the Sunday Times

Athens, Georgia

November 23, 2014

My kitchen is so cold I crack 
the oven inches open, set 
the knob to rod-glows-red,

and hug my hot water bottle. 

Predawn drips darkness 

as I watch the eternal sunrise 

sweep across the Atlantic 

on my world daylight app.

Silhouettes emerge outside 

when the great arc of light 

with an apex above Iceland 

kisses the shores of Georgia. 

It is midday in Spain 

and sunset in Sri Lanka,

afternoon in Abu Dhabi,

midnight in Sydney.

China lies in darkness 

while Auckland inhabits 

tomorrow. We share 

the same moment, I muse 

while watching out for all 

the news that’s fit to print 

to hit my driveway double 

wrapped against the drizzle.

I scroll the social media 

past the cats and dinner pics, 

by the snark and sentiment, 

around the pronouncements 

and dodgy links, to plunge 

through a blog on Buddhism 

tagged with a holy aspiration: 

“Have light, will travel.” 

How nice, if only, I mutter, 

startled by the gray-brown 

world, bathed in soft dawn 

as if from within. I check 

my app and sure enough, 

it’s right on time. Light 

comes as new days must, 
to all who sit and wait.