The Book of Days

 

The dawn’s early light can be pleasure enough for the whole day.

There are words enough to tell the story of “the temptation of day to come.”

It is my delight to write some of them for your delectation.

 

 

Above all

 

A sunrise so paintable it brushes away

   my faint recall of others I have seen…

 

A sunrise, surely, cannot be

   the best of all dawns

      since that first one,

but, still,

this startling canopy of latent reds,

and dappled puffs of barely more than air,

is there, blushing,

billowing itself to demean all rivals.

 

This sky high bloom,

chromatic, marbled,

vastly still in each moment,

paused in fleeting time

   to tempt a longer view,

teases my delight

   with every hint of lasting grace

      that all too soon will fade

         to drab wists in blue air.

 

Above all, I see

   this flirtation of the elements,

this wanton splash of radiant sky

   that kisses my eyes,

but won’t commit

   to be there for me tomorrow.

 

February 21, 2017

My poem “Above all” was published in my sixth collection of 73 poems, Above all: Poems of dawn and more. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”

My poem “Above all” was published in my second collection of 47 poems, Seeing far: Selected poems. You can buy it on Amazon (paperback and Kindle), or get it free in Kindle Unlimited, search for “Richard Carl Subber”

Published in the Fall 2018 issue of miller’s pond

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Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2025 All rights reserved.

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In other words: Poems for your eyes and ears with 64 free verse and haiku poems,

and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)

and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

 

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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© 2025, Richard Subber. All rights reserved.