The Rise of Sunrise
Sunrise triumphs over darkness
Sunset marks the waning light
A display of color that fades away too soon
Sunrise wakes with its colorful bluster
The artist paints the promise of the day
A balance, one could say, one could hope
The power of daylight and night’s darkness
Light brings forward hope
Darkness may breed fear in its shadows
One fears less…what one can see
I raise my hands wide open to the sky
To the gifts of light and rain
Each fall, to wash the handcuffed dust
From my pathway, my time, my being
To lie quiet now, mere dust at my feet
Defanged, to trample upon and smile
New miles, a horizon stretching before
Each day is a joy to cherish
As twilight nears, a vision sets me free
I rest and renew at sunset
Content in the paintings in my day
The Fear of Darkness… Which is Ourselves
Monsters under the bed, monsters in our heads. We can either immerse ourselves in the chaos of our times or pull the blankets up tight, hoping it will all go away. This remains true today, just as it was in the past, and I expect it will continue to be the same in the future. I have said many times, “I do not understand why we have not blown ourselves up yet!” We keep getting closer and have had the means to do it in mere minutes for decades. The Doomsday Clock represents our collective perception of the impending threat of destruction. As of January 28, 2025, the Doomsday Clock reset at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been since 1947. That year, some scientists involved in the Manhattan Project set the clock at 7 minutes to midnight. We have made significant progress toward midnight over the last 78 years. Midnight represents total darkness for all of us, where we no longer must worry about the stock market or the latest clothing trends.
To keep pace with modern concerns, the Doomsday Clock now considers factors related to artificial intelligence and climate change in our slow march toward destruction. The good news is that it hasn’t been moving quickly lately, but we are running out of time. In 2020, the hands sat at 100 seconds; in 2023, the hands showed 90 seconds.
Now we enter the zone of endless banter about artificial intelligence and climate change. Is there a question of whether we are smart enough to create machines that are more intelligent than ourselves, but cannot solve the endless strife between nations and religions? Almost everyone is out of their mind watching television, foaming at the mouth, and angry about something. Maybe we are on our way to being so out of control and furious that we all have a collective aneurysm, and our heads explode, making all these nuclear weapons a waste of money.
Each of us possesses an hourglass filled with the sands of our time. Every grain represents a second that slips away, and no matter how much humanity tries, we cannot turn the hourglass to restart the flow of those grains. Beside our hourglass is our metronome, whose rhythmic pendulum marks the beat of our hearts. Its methodical swing echoes time itself—tick, tick, tick. Our cadence encompasses activities as varied as walking, breathing, blinking, and many more.
Time moves only in one direction: forward. Its rhythm cannot be altered. Unfortunately, the weight of our past burdens us as we navigate our days, and it is our responsibility to lighten this load. No amount of wishing or magical solutions can ease it. I am a glass-half-full person. My clock has been close to midnight for years and moves in that direction daily. I am still here and still fighting my demons and dragons. My sword is the light.
The Chains of Time
The past is the past
Distrust and grudges
Too often carried forward
Blocking paths forward
Time only moves one way
Forward…always forward
The Keeper of Time
Does not carry our baggage
A burden sometimes we share
No guard’s key to unlock
The handcuffs that bind
Past regrets, past mistakes
Each sunrise holds a promise
A new day yet to be written
Unlock your chains
Locks cement us to doomscrolling
Their time is past
And bathe in the new light
Note: In the spring of 2026, I will release my second book, titled The Mailbox. Humanities concepts of light, typically considered good, and darkness, which many consider evil, are structures of this work. The never-ending conflict of good versus evil, angels and demons, with a past that had difficulty separating the two. A tale of two witches’ journey recorded in The Book of Time.
