A Morning’s Awakening
The weather has finally turned warm enough for me to open the windows at night. All over the garden, the roses are blooming. The grass is a lush green. The dogwood tree has shed its delicate ivory petals. They carpet the ground so delicately.The garden is at its most beautiful. At the side of the house, the old rose bush, which is at least sixty years old, is beginning to display its small, pale roses. Each year I look forward to them blooming. They are so beautiful, and their scent is so heady.In the darkest hours of the night, as I lay asleep in my bed, a gentle breeze swayed the curtains to and fro. The nightbird sang its heart out to the golden orb that hovered between the heavens above and the tree where it perched. It seemed mesmerized by the dazzling moon. Through the fluttering curtains, its tune entered my sleep. I felt my lips curl up in pleasure. Ever so slowly, I floated out of a cloud of dream-filled sleep. My eyelids fluttered as I listened to his haunting song. Except for the lone nightbird, the Earth lay in deep slumber. I imagined myself to be at one with the universe. The nightbird ended its song. I lay awake, curled in bed, basking in a feeling of well-being.Languorously, I rose from my bed. That feeling of oneness was overpowering. I usually felt it in the early morning when it was still too early for the sun to rise. Wrapped in my dressing gown, I slowly made my way downstairs. I took my mug of tea and sat at one of the two park benches by the back door. As I sipped my tea, I breathed deeply of the heady scent of the honeysuckles that crept over the fence. My world has become smaller and smaller, but I preserved the things that give me so much pleasure, I thought to myself: my music, my books, nature, my garden.As I sat there contemplating my world, the birds began to awaken. The turtle doves cooed their loving greetings to each other. The other birds also began to chirp joyously at the start of this new day. At first it was the occasional chirp, and finally it became a crescendo of avian music. The sun slowly rose in the sky. It glanced at the birds in my garden and broke out into a huge smile. Ah! It wholly banished the moon and lit up the sky! Morning has broken as it has done so from the beginning of time. It was overpowering to realize that at that moment. The people change, but the world turns round and round, perhaps into eternity.I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sky. My face transformed itself from a sleepy one into one with a happy smile. What a beautiful morning! What a beautiful world! We have to love and cherish this precious Earth that has been loaned to us for the time we are on Earth. It is loaned to us as a trust. It is not ours. We have to carefully cherish it for the generations to come, just as the ones before us took care of it for us.The world is awakening. I hear two women chatting with each other as they take their morning walk. I hear dogs bark excitedly as they meet other dogs, and their owners greet each other.I place my mug on the little table by the bench. I lean back for another moment. The world has awakened. I had better go in and start my day.