Saturday in Holy Week Sunrise 2005

Gila Bend, Arizona

Southwestern sunsets long have been legendary, but today’s Southwestern sunrise, 24 hours before Easter’s break o’ day, finds me wondering about promise, hope and shattered dreams. As I’m writing this, new day has broken over Gila Bend, Arizona, U.S.A.. These days I wonder if my heart has been ripped out or if my heart still remains with me, broken into about a zillion pieces. Right now at this moment we’re parked alongside Love’s Quality Fuel and the C-store attached to it; Love’s logo is a solitary heart, though also articulated as a trio of overlapping hearts lined up in a row!

How irresistible I find the desolate beauty of the palm trees (still haven’t learned how to distinguish one variety from another) all along the left and the very characteristically Southwestern mesquite to the right, graphically delineated against morning’s pale light. Mountains not too-far distant begin making inroads into this new day...

On Sun Tree River, my Poetry and other Passions blog, I posted a poem I wrote based on words I’d written on Desert Spirit’s Fire, my theology blog; today I’ll begin to complete a full circle and post dawnwashed blues here on this far by faith; here's the text:

On Desert Spirit's Fire, my theology blog, in a post called morning watch, I wrote:

Patterned after ancient practice but now in remembrance and anticipation of Easter dawn, there's a Christian tradition of Morning Watch. The fourth and last segment of the night watch, the morning watch of antiquity and of the New Testament epoch (that's us!) is from 3-6 AM; during this final watch of the night, darkness gently eases into the quiet early light of Easter dawn and God's Glory softly splashes over all creation.

Here's a poem I wrote about that hour of...

dawnwashed blues

during each night's final watch,
darkness gently eases into
quiet early light of daybreak's dawn
God's Glory softly splashes
over drowsing creation

yesterday's final light of day
followed by a slender slice of moonglow
held no starshimmer
during middle night's intensely indigo blues
today's hushed daybreak
whispered itself over creation’s
night's end watch anticipating dawn's first light
the sunup-washed sky shined with light-washed sheen
dawnwashed new morning blues made
fresh-sprung break of pale day blues

dawnwashed blues