A Diet of Light and Silence

The morning light slips through the window,
gentle as dawn.

It spreads itself across the ancient wood table,
making the grain come alive.

The cloths on the table soften the image. For a moment,
you are living in a Wyeth painting.

You woke early enough to be alone. Early enough
to ignore everything

except the light.

Yes, there is work to be done.
People depend on you
for more than their daily bread.

but for this short time, you will feed yourself.
A diet of light and silence.

You will grow strong in your most vulnerable moments,
a trick you learned in your turbulent past.

Worth learning,
even the hard way.

About this poem

Just a wake-up poem for myself. Today was a rare day, waking up without deadlines, alarms and schedules. I am more myself on such days, and I treasure them.

The picture was taken at the Hancock Shaker Village, just outside Pittsfield, Mass.

Tom