Poet: Althea Randolph
I'm up and dressed while yet the World
Is fast asleep in bed;
Ofttimes I wear a skirt of blue,
And ofttimes ruby red;
About my waist I tie a sash
Of golden streamers gay.
And o'er my shoulders throw a scarf
Of fleecy clouds of gray;
Upon my head I place a crown
Of opal rays of light.
And as the Moon and Stars behold,
They quickly take their flight!
I carry in my hands joy-beams,
To scatter on my way;
And when I waken birds and flowers,
They echo back, "Tis day!"
Behind me comes the amber Sun, -
Each morn he gives me chase.
But never has he caught me yet
In swift Aurora's race!
Poet: Ruth Lawrence
Aurora bids the buds awake,
And sends the winds abroad to play,
To croon the rose a roundelay,
To rouse the cricket in the brake;
To ruffle up the placid lake,
And trick the fields for holiday.
Aurora bids the buds awake
And sends the winds abroad to play.
The willow waves its mantle gray,
The almond boughs 'neath blossoms quake,
They hail the coming of the day;
With drowsy sweets the lilacs shake;
Aurora bids the buds awake.
Poet: Catherine Pulsifer
The night can seem so black
Any hope we have seems under attack
It is hard to see, the sky is so dark
The stars are its only mark.
But then the dawn comes
Light shines upon our problems
The sun comes up, the light we see
The darkness gone, we are set free.
The sky is full of color to amaze
The clouds look like they are ablaze
We have before us a new day
The dawn can bring hope, many say.
Appreciate the beauty, stop and look
The sky can change your outlook.
The first sign of light, the darkness disappears
The morning dawn can erase our fears.
Be thankful for this dawn, this day
Be the best you can be in every way
Good morning to the dawn this day
Life is good, not just okay!
Poet: Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn;
Refreshed by his long sleep, the Light
Kisses the languid lips of Night,
Ere she can rise and hasten on.
All glowing from his dreamless rest
He holds her closely to his breast,
Warm lip to lip and limb to limb,
Until she dies for love of him.
Poet: Ruth Lawrence
What does the brook say to you,
At dawn when it flushes,
And kisses the rushes.
With murmurs and blushes?
As it sings,
Does it tell you of wonderful things,
Till you think every wish must come true?
For I do —
What does the brook say to you?
What does the brook say to you.
When the sun hangs its head.
When the west is all red,
And the day is near sped?
As it flows ;
Does it promise surcease of all woes,
Till you thrill with a hope that is new?
For I do -
What does the brook say to you?
What does the brook say to you,
When the moonlight in streams,
Like a shower of dreams.
On its dark surface gleams?
As it sighs
Does it bring faltering tears to your eyes.
Till you long for forgiveness to sue?
For I do -
What does the brook say to you?
Love, does the brook say to you.
In the dark, in the light.
In the day, in the night,
In despair, in delight.
As it rolls,
That one are our hearts and our souls,
For life, and eternity too?
For I do.
What does the brook say to you?
Poet: Richard W. Gilder
The night was dark, though sometimes a faint star
A little while a little space made bright.
The night was long, and, like an iron bar,
Lay heavy on the land: till o'er the sea
Slowly, within the east, there grew a light
Which half was starlight, and half seemed to be
The herald of a greater. The pale white
Turned slowly to pale rose, and up the height
Of heaven slowly climbed. The gray sea grew
Rose-colored like the sky. A white gull flew
Straight toward the utmost boundary of the east,
Where slowly the rose gathered and increased.
It was as on the opening of a door
By one that in his hand a lamp doth hold,
Whose flame is hidden by the garment's fold -
The still air moves, the wide room is less dim.
More bright the east became; the ocean turned
Dark and more dark against the brightening sky -
Sharper against the sky the long sea-line.
The hollows of the breakers on the shore
Were green like leaves whereon no sun doth shine,
Though white the outer branches of the tree.
From rose to red the level heaven burned;
Then sudden, as if a sword fell from on high,
A blade of gold flashed on the horizon's rim.
Poet: J. G. Percival
A night had passed away among the hills,
An now the first faint tokens of the dawn
Showed in the east. The bright and dewy star
Whose mission is to usher in the morn,
Looked through the cool air, like a blessed thing
In a far purer world; below, there lay,
Wrapped round a woody mountain tranquilly,
A misty cloud.
Its edges caught the light
That now came up from out the unseen depth
Of the full fount of day, and they were laced
With colors ever brightening. I had waked
From a long sleep of many changing dreams,
And now in the fresh forest air I stood,
Nerved to another day of wandering.
Below, there lay a far-extended sea,
Rolling in feathery waves. The wind blew o'er it
And tossed it round the high-ascending rocks,
And swept it through the half-hidden forest-tops,
Till, like an ocean waking into storm,
It heaved and weltered. Gloriously the light
Crested its billows, and those craggy islands
Shone on it like to palaces of spar,
Built on a sea of pearl.
The sky bent round
The awful dome of a most mighty temple,
Built by Omnipotent hands, for nothing less
Than infinite worship. There I stood in silence;
I had no words to tell the mingled thoughts
Of wonder and of joy which then came o'er me,
Even with a whirlwind's rush.
So beautiful,
So bright, so glorious! Such a majesty
In yon pure vault! So many dazzling tints
In yonder waste of waves — so like the ocean
With its unnumbered islands there encircled
By foaming- surges.
Poet: Carlyle
So here hath been dawning another blue day!
Oh, mayst thou not let it slip useless away!
Out of Eternity this new day was born;
Into Eternity at night will return.
Behold it aforetime no eye ever did
So soon it forever from all eyes is hid.
Here hath been dawning another blue day;
Think, wilt thou let it slip useless away?
