A Day Without the Sun

A Day Without the Sun

On a lonely hill -
Overlooking a valley
I sit in the morning
Awaiting the sun's first light.

As winds pick up,
There’s no change in the skies
And I wonder if the sun
Can break the stranglehold of night.

The morning is quiet you see
And only the chirping of birds
Interrupt the thoughts
From Deep within me,

They cry out in alarm
As if to say:
“Let’s go back to bed,
for today the sun is dead.”

I stumble down the path
Unsure of my footing -
With No sun to guide my way
On this light abandoned ground.

There are no passerbys
Yet the air is strangely filled—
With a silent eerie buzz
Of prayers and cries rising from around.

The morning is quite dreadful today
As people scream and wail of doom from the end
They cry out in alarm as if to say,
“We cannot bear this dread; soon we’ll all be dead.”

All throughout the night
They waited through the time,
Wonder had turned to anguish
Right before their eyes.

They held their children dearly
And kissed their loved ones all goodbye,
And cherished their final moments
Until early the next morning, when the sun began to rise.
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By Greg Butz
April 24, 2009

I first began working on this poem early in March – I had just begun running in the morning (which ended almost abruptly as it had begun). I climbed up to the top of a reservoir awaiting the morning’s first rays. It took forever for the sun to rise, when a thought of this little poem / song (it was and still is a tune in my head) came to my mind. What if the sun never rose for a day? Would that change our life – and if it would, shouldn’t we make changes in our life now, and not wait until it is too late? Just a few thoughts to ponder.