My Odyssey

The sunrise

5:53 am
It is dark.
Not a ray of sunshine.
No dogs bark.
No birds take flight.
All is still.
All is calm.
Streetlights twinkling like stars,
Scattered around, floating in the air.
The sky a vast rainbow,
With all its bright colours,
Starting from indigo
And ending in the serene blue of the sky.
The rainbow is the sight before me.
Behind me, the dark still dominates.
The land lies in shadows,
Awaiting the majestic sun to shine a little brighter.
A chilly breeze sweeps past me,
Brushing against my cheek.
It sweeps under my palms,
As if asking me to stretch my hand out.
I extend my hand
And it gives it a shake.
But when I try to grab it,
Slips right through my fingers.
That slippery minx!

6:06 am
The sky is bluer.
The rainbow remains
And so does the shadow across from it.
Above head, a fine line can be seen.
The lighter blue to my left
And the darker to my right.
Dogs still don't bark,
Neither to the birds fly.
The twinkling street lights
Are now accompanied
By headlights of zapping cars.
Slowly the world awakens,
As a light or two are turned off.
The first bird, a pigeon, takes flight,
Flittering right past me.
The shadow begins to retreat,
Giving way for the light,
Surrendering without a fight.
The light blue spreads,
Reaching across the line,
As if lending a helping hand to the land in the shadows.

6:26 am
The bright, shiny boy
Still refuses to make an appearance.
He continues to hide,
Awaiting the precise moment
To make his grand entrance,
As he does day after day.
Although his rays,
Like uncontrollable toddlers,
Too impatient to wait,
Popped out long ago,
Gracing us with their light.
More birds have awakened.
The pigeons have grouped,
And taken their usual spot,
Atop buildings and roofs.
More birds of all kinds,
Stretch their wings
And fly off to their duties.
The dogs finally bark,
Waking up anyone who hears their early morning howl.

6:30 am
Finally he peeps out
From under his blanket
Of mist and cloud.
A little, round, pink head pops out.
He checks to see if all is set,
If all the lights and lamps have been turned off
And if it is finally time
For his grand entrance.
Slowly he rises,
Inch by inch,
Moving gracefully toward his assigned spot,
Shedding his pink pyjamas
And putting on his orange suit,
As he makes his way up,
Like a man changing cloths on the run
When he is late for work.
This young man is late indeed!
He is supposed to wake first,
So we may conclude our dreams
And end our slumber.
But instead he sleeps,
Comfy under his quilt of fog,
Letting his minions do the job
Of brightening earth
While he catches those few extra minutes of sleep.
Of course it seemed almost punctual,
When he began to rise
At exactly half past six.
But I'm afraid, he was a minute late.
I suppose,
No matter who you are,
Or how big you might be.
No matter how far
Or close you must travel.
No matter what you must do
Or who you must meet.
Celestial or mortal,
No one can resist
The charms of the sweet mistress sleep.

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The poem clearly reveals one thing, I timed the sunrise. I couldn't sleep at all last night. I don't know why. I drew a picture, wrote the previous poem, listened to music, read a book and I still did not feel sleepy! Not even a damn yawn!
When I saw the time was five, I thought Hey, why not go watch the sunrise today?
So I headed up to the terrace at 5:50. It as still dark when I got up there but you'll be amazed by the changes that happen in just three minutes!
You think your life is moving too fast? Go have a look at the sunrise! You can almost see how fast the earth is spinning! Kinda makes me think about how well I use my time.
Anyways, back to the topic, the sunrise. I kept my eyes glued on the horizon. I don't even think I blinked more than once every five minutes! And just when it strikes 6:28 my first yawn escapes my mouth! Funny, the timing of things. Just when it's about to happen and you're focused on that, a million distractions appear!
Again, I got carried away! I guess early mornings make me think a lot.
Anyways, when the sun finally came to the top, it looked like a pinkish orange ball! It reminded me of this little rubber ball I used to have. Looked just like it!
All in all, the sunrise was beautiful! I never understood it when others said it, but I guess I had to see to believe. So go on, wake up before dawn one morning and go watch the sunset. It will be life changing. It was for me!

P.S Watching the sunrise and watching the sunset, two very different experiences! Maybe I'll write a poem on the sunset so you can understand how exactly they're different.