Cosmic Sunrise

Cosmic Sunrise by Reneé Mack

She is a

storyteller, a dreamer, to her own detriment, occasionally,

a warrior, a soul on fire.

Traveler, lifelong learner, student of

culture, language, science, literature.

Curious spirit, shivering in anticipation, in potential,

in fear.

Magical, untapped. Full of lonely and confused whispers

from without and within, all at once.

Can't sleep, why would she? Not while excitement swirls over her body, unmoving yet

sprinting over mountains and across beaches and under waves and

through prairies and tundras and concrete and jungles and forests and 

the stars.

Human. Unbelievably so. The good of the world radiates around her.

She sees it, embraces it, and is also aware of its

shadow looming over her. She wants to eliminate it, but she knows

there's no eraser big enough to fix that mistake.

She wants to take the tired, the poor, every huddled mass,

and bring them all to freedom.

She wants to change someone.

She wants to know someone.

She wants to be someone.

She practices her arabesques across the grand staff,

sliding down the treble clef and jetéing over sharps and flats.

All notes are welcome here, every kind

and from every place.

The heavens awaken her.

The moon stares back, welcoming her spirit

into the light. 

Each star is a paper trail, 

leading her down the path

that fate assigned.

The sun, he rules her. 

She is on fire, after all.

He takes her hand and brings her back down

to the ground each morning.

He places her on a hill, 

and together they watch the people pass, 

the cars roll by, 

the birds sing their good mornings.

They watch, and they keep watching, 

until she reluctantly stands. 

She turns around to face the sun again. 

He smiles at her and pushes her along. 

"Go on, keep going,

you can't stop now."

And she begins

her day.

She pushes through, as she always does.

At the end of the day, she marches back up the hill

and tells the sun everything that happened,

even though he already knows.

They talk until the sky around them paints itself

pink and orange, and the sun notices that he is sinking again.

They embrace, and she watches as he sets.

The sky's dancing colors fade to black, and the moon and stars return.

At the moon's request, the stars move

to form a staircase.

She happily bounds them,

and begins to tell the moon about everything that happened,

even though she already knows.