A red and glorious sunrise in State College, Pennsylvania, on 27 November 2006...

My lungs are in terrible shape today. When I get a respiratory infection, I often end up with weeks of bronchitis and asthma. That feeling of not being able to get air is something I never can get used to. There are times when I am sure my final minutes will be consigned to drowning in two tablespoons of spit.

Ah, well, I will counteract these physical symptoms by concentrating on the beauty that is offered to me today. Ying, yang. 陰/阴; 陽/阳. There always is light, even inside the dark.

Sunrise on the Hills
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I stood upon the hills, when heaven's wide arch
Was glorious with the sun's returning march,
And woods were brightened, and soft gales
Went forth to kiss the sun-clad vales.
The clouds were far beneath me; bathed in light,
They gathered mid-way round the wooded height,
And, in their fading glory, shone
Like hosts in battle overthrown.
As many a pinnacle, with shifting glance.
Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance,
And rocking on the cliff was left
The dark pine blasted, bare, and cleft.
The veil of cloud was lifted, and below
Glowed the rich valley, and the river's flow
Was darkened by the forest's shade,
Or glistened in the white cascade;
Where upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his spiral way.

I heard the distant waters dash,
I saw the current whirl and flash,
And richly, by the blue lake's silver beach,
The woods were bending with a silent reach.
Then o'er the vale, with gentle swell,
The music of the village bell
Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills;
And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills,
Was ringing to the merry shout,
That faint and far the glen sent out,
Where, answering to the sudden shot, thin smoke,
Through thick-leaved branches, from the dingle broke.

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget,
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

You can receive rewards for getting up early in the morning just as dawn quickens. I have found, after many sunrises, that none stay the same for more than 10 seconds. Particularly in State College, where the sun rises over by Mount Nittany. So many continuous changes. The light is diffused in clouds. Some days, it is arrested by solid gray clouds to cast shadows in open spaces on all below. Other days, when the wather casts over the entire valley, a hint of pink leaks through and, then, is gone. Yes, Henry, we all need a lesson that will keep our hearts from fainting. So much in life can make us quiet and reflective. Waiting. Wanting. Wondering. Thinking. Hoping. Dreaming. Imagining life. Hail, Rosey-Fingered Dawn that inspires mirth and youth and sweet desire! I am so much in need of reading Homer one more time.