Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog 110 The Great White Bird and In Dawn I Stand

THE GREAT WHITE BIRD and IN DAWN I STAND

Each new day is in the present but it points to the future- hence in the present there is freedom of choice- not infinite freedom but nevertheless freedom within the necessary form of circumstance. Thus the great white bird may be seen as a symbol of awakening awareness and the new day of the hope born of freedom.

THE GREAT WHITE BIRD

The great white bird flies from the night,

The great white bird with wings of light,

With wings spread on the eastern sky.

Its fire feathers sweep on high

And night's last stars are brushed away.

The great white bird cries: Born is day!

And all the birds that live on earth

Call back The day has come to birth.

The great white bird cries: Day is born!

The great white bird is called the Dawn.

            IN DAWN I STAND

In dawn I stand, take light's first power,

refreshed by new-unfolding day.

Day-colour seems a wonder now;

the dark of night is swept away.

Yet through soft night life’s forces flowed

to mind and limbs, a secret glow...

as through the darkness and the deep,

strange kingdom of the dream, dear sleep

in sea of slumber washed away

my weary, worn-out yesterday.

And so I stand, in new and mind-bright hour,

as this new morning shines,

renewed-

as new as these new lines

I've written now,

as new as time's new way

I've never seen;

as new as this new day...

that's never been.