Three Views of a Sunrise
May. 3rd, 2007 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tedwords West Palm, Florida, Tuesday morning
I toss off the covers and wake up with a start.
I’m alone, in the hotel room. It’s...what time is it? I dig around the sheets, looking for my cell phone, something I always keep next to me while I’m sleeping, just so I always have instant access to the time.
5:30.
I had actually been asleep. Asleep in a hotel room. Fancy that, it usually never happens. But the evening before had been so difficult...tossing and turning, counting the evening in increments of half-hours, worrying about the work that had to be done that day...I guess I was due.
I want to roll over and go back to sleep. Then, I remember a promise I made to myself, before I drifted off to sleep. When was the last time I...? No, doesn’t matter. Time to do it. Now.
I force myself out of bed, and fumble around for my room key. Feet bare, mouth unwashed, I force myself to stumble out of the room. Down the hall. Outside, into the pool area.
I find myself feeling a bit nervous. Would I encounter anyone on my journey through this secret world, this shadow world just before the first rays of the day? Lovers, trading secrets by the pool, whispering soft words and tender caresses? A night clerk, puffing on a butt during their break?
I reach the beach. The sand feels cool against my toes. I make my way to an abandoned beach chair. Gratefully, I crash upon it like a wave. But I can’t fall asleep, not yet.
I need to wait. Wait for the sunset to come.
I haven't been witness to a sunrise since I was 18.
It feels good to see the dawn of a new day, once again.
White Painted Woman's power emerges,
Her power for sleep.
White Painted Woman carries this girl;
She carries her through long life,
She carries her to good fortune,
She carries her to old age,
She bears her to peaceful sleep.
Sunrise Ceremony Song, from Opler, An Apache Life-Way
I toss off the covers and wake up with a start.
I’m alone, in the hotel room. It’s...what time is it? I dig around the sheets, looking for my cell phone, something I always keep next to me while I’m sleeping, just so I always have instant access to the time.
5:30.
I had actually been asleep. Asleep in a hotel room. Fancy that, it usually never happens. But the evening before had been so difficult...tossing and turning, counting the evening in increments of half-hours, worrying about the work that had to be done that day...I guess I was due.
I want to roll over and go back to sleep. Then, I remember a promise I made to myself, before I drifted off to sleep. When was the last time I...? No, doesn’t matter. Time to do it. Now.
I force myself out of bed, and fumble around for my room key. Feet bare, mouth unwashed, I force myself to stumble out of the room. Down the hall. Outside, into the pool area.
I find myself feeling a bit nervous. Would I encounter anyone on my journey through this secret world, this shadow world just before the first rays of the day? Lovers, trading secrets by the pool, whispering soft words and tender caresses? A night clerk, puffing on a butt during their break?
I reach the beach. The sand feels cool against my toes. I make my way to an abandoned beach chair. Gratefully, I crash upon it like a wave. But I can’t fall asleep, not yet.
I need to wait. Wait for the sunset to come.
I haven't been witness to a sunrise since I was 18.
It feels good to see the dawn of a new day, once again.
White Painted Woman's power emerges,
Her power for sleep.
White Painted Woman carries this girl;
She carries her through long life,
She carries her to good fortune,
She carries her to old age,
She bears her to peaceful sleep.
Sunrise Ceremony Song, from Opler, An Apache Life-Way
