27 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:38am
sunset : 4.45pm
day length : 9h 7m
moonrise : 11:09am
moonset : 9:57pm
moonphase: waxing crescent 4 days
.....................................
Winter Night Poem for Mary
As I started home after dark
I looked into the sky and saw the new moon,
an old man with a basket on his arm.
He walked among the cedars in the bare woods.
They stood like guardians, dark
as he passed. He might have been singing,
or he might not. He might have been sowing
the spring flowers, or he might not. But I saw him
with his basket, going along the hilltop.
~Wendell Berry
.....................................
sunrise : 7:38am
sunset : 4.45pm
day length : 9h 7m
moonrise : 11:09am
moonset : 9:57pm
moonphase: waxing crescent 4 days
.....................................
Winter Night Poem for Mary
As I started home after dark
I looked into the sky and saw the new moon,
an old man with a basket on his arm.
He walked among the cedars in the bare woods.
They stood like guardians, dark
as he passed. He might have been singing,
or he might not. He might have been sowing
the spring flowers, or he might not. But I saw him
with his basket, going along the hilltop.
~Wendell Berry
.....................................
23 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:37am
sunset : 4.42pm
day length : 9h 4m
moonrise : 8:13am
moonset : 5:03pm
moonphase: new moon 1:44am
.....................................
Faith
I want to write about faith:
About the way the moon
Rises over cold snow
Night after night
Faithful
Even in its fading from fullness
Slowly becoming
That last curling and impossible
Sliver of light
Before the final darkness.
But I have no faith myself.
I do not give it the smallest entry.
Let this, then, my small poem
Like a new moon
Slender and barely open
Be the first prayer
That opens me to faith.
~David Whyte
.....................................
sunrise : 7:37am
sunset : 4.42pm
day length : 9h 4m
moonrise : 8:13am
moonset : 5:03pm
moonphase: new moon 1:44am
.....................................
Faith
I want to write about faith:
About the way the moon
Rises over cold snow
Night after night
Faithful
Even in its fading from fullness
Slowly becoming
That last curling and impossible
Sliver of light
Before the final darkness.
But I have no faith myself.
I do not give it the smallest entry.
Let this, then, my small poem
Like a new moon
Slender and barely open
Be the first prayer
That opens me to faith.
~David Whyte
.....................................
22 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.37am
sunset : 4.42pm
moonrise : 7:05am
moonset : 3:56pm
moonphase: waning gibbous..28 days
.....................................
Sometimes
Sometimes, when a bird cries out,
Or the wind sweeps through a tree,
Or a dog howls in a far-off farm,
I hold still and listen a long time.
My world turns and goes back to the place
Where, a thousand forgotten years ago,
The bird and the blowing wind
Were like me, and were my brothers.
My soul turns into a tree,
and an animal, and a cloud bank.
Then changed and odd it comes home.
And asks me questions. What should I reply?
~Herman Hesse
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
sunrise : 7.37am
sunset : 4.42pm
moonrise : 7:05am
moonset : 3:56pm
moonphase: waning gibbous..28 days
.....................................
Sometimes
Sometimes, when a bird cries out,
Or the wind sweeps through a tree,
Or a dog howls in a far-off farm,
I hold still and listen a long time.
My world turns and goes back to the place
Where, a thousand forgotten years ago,
The bird and the blowing wind
Were like me, and were my brothers.
My soul turns into a tree,
and an animal, and a cloud bank.
Then changed and odd it comes home.
And asks me questions. What should I reply?
~Herman Hesse
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
21 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:36am
sunset : 4.41pm
day length : 9h 5m
winter solstice 11:04 pm pst
moonrise : 5:39am
moonset : 3:05pm
moonphase: waning crescent 27 days
.....................................
Emerald
gold
copper and bronze
day by day she turns the ring
of her seasons
winding it
on the fingers
of her land
until
taking a breath of cold air
she disrobes
and then puts on
a gown of purest white
sprinkled with diamonds
in which to dream
of seasons
yet to come
until
taking a breath of warm sun
she awakens
with opalescent rainbows
day by day
she turns the ring
again
to emerald
~Harriet Kofalk
.....................................
sunrise : 7:36am
sunset : 4.41pm
day length : 9h 5m
winter solstice 11:04 pm pst
moonrise : 5:39am
moonset : 3:05pm
moonphase: waning crescent 27 days
.....................................
Emerald
gold
copper and bronze
day by day she turns the ring
of her seasons
winding it
on the fingers
of her land
until
taking a breath of cold air
she disrobes
and then puts on
a gown of purest white
sprinkled with diamonds
in which to dream
of seasons
yet to come
until
taking a breath of warm sun
she awakens
with opalescent rainbows
day by day
she turns the ring
again
to emerald
~Harriet Kofalk
.....................................
20 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:35am
sunset : 4.41pm
day length : 9h 6m
moonrise : 4:17am
moonset : 2:25pm
moonphase: waning crescent 26 days
.....................................
Last Night as I Was Sleeping
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.
~Antonio Machado
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
sunrise : 7:35am
sunset : 4.41pm
day length : 9h 6m
moonrise : 4:17am
moonset : 2:25pm
moonphase: waning crescent 26 days
.....................................
Last Night as I Was Sleeping
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.
~Antonio Machado
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
16 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:33am
sunset : 4.39pm
day length : 9h 5m
moonset : 12:41pm
moonrise : 9:06pm
moonphase: last quarter 9:44am
.....................................
What We Need is Here
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
Wendell Berry
.....................................
sunrise : 7:33am
sunset : 4.39pm
day length : 9h 5m
moonset : 12:41pm
moonrise : 9:06pm
moonphase: last quarter 9:44am
.....................................
What We Need is Here
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
Wendell Berry
.....................................
13 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:30am
sunset : 4.39pm
day length : 9h 8m
moonset : 11:24am
moonrise : 9:06pm
moonphase: waning gibbous 19 days
.....................................
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked
in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life
and my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment
Rabindranath Tagore
.....................................
sunrise : 7:30am
sunset : 4.39pm
day length : 9h 8m
moonset : 11:24am
moonrise : 9:06pm
moonphase: waning gibbous 19 days
.....................................
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked
in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life
and my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment
Rabindranath Tagore
.....................................
10 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.28am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 9:23am
moonrise : 6:02pm
moonphase: waning gibbous..16 days
.....................................
How shall I begin my song
In the blue night that is settling?
In the great night my heart will go out,
Toward me the darkness comes rattling.
In the great night my heart will go out.
Brown owls come here in the blue evening,
They are hooting about,
They are shaking their wings and hooting.
Black Butte is far.
Below it I had my dawn.
I could see the daylight
coming back for me.
The morning star is up.
I cross the mountains
into the light of the sea.
~Owl Woman
translated by Frances Densmore
.....................................
sunrise : 7.28am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 9:23am
moonrise : 6:02pm
moonphase: waning gibbous..16 days
.....................................
How shall I begin my song
In the blue night that is settling?
In the great night my heart will go out,
Toward me the darkness comes rattling.
In the great night my heart will go out.
Brown owls come here in the blue evening,
They are hooting about,
They are shaking their wings and hooting.
Black Butte is far.
Below it I had my dawn.
I could see the daylight
coming back for me.
The morning star is up.
I cross the mountains
into the light of the sea.
~Owl Woman
translated by Frances Densmore
.....................................
09 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7:27am
sunset : 4.38pm
moonset : 8:28am
moonrise : 5:09pm
moonphase: waning gibbous 15 days
.....................................
There is a Lake
There is a lake so tiny
that a mustard seed would cover it
easily , yet everyone drinks from this lake.
Deer , jackals , rhinocerouses , and sea elephants
keep falling into it , falling and dissolving
almost before they have time to be born.
~Lalla
translated by Coleman Barks
.....................................
sunrise : 7:27am
sunset : 4.38pm
moonset : 8:28am
moonrise : 5:09pm
moonphase: waning gibbous 15 days
.....................................
There is a Lake
There is a lake so tiny
that a mustard seed would cover it
easily , yet everyone drinks from this lake.
Deer , jackals , rhinocerouses , and sea elephants
keep falling into it , falling and dissolving
almost before they have time to be born.
~Lalla
translated by Coleman Barks
.....................................
08 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.26 am
sunset : 4.38 pm
moonset : 7.29 am
moonrise : 4.36 pm
moonphase: full cold 12.38 pm
.....................................
You Are the Future
You are the future, the immense morning sky
turning red over the prairies of eternity.
You are the rooster-crow after the night of time,
the dew, the early devotions, and the Daughter,
the Guest, the Ancient Mother, and Death.
You are the shape that changes its own shape,
that climbs out of fate, towering,
that which is never shouted for, and never mourned for,
and no more explored than a savage wood.
You are the meaning deepest inside things,
that never reveals the secret of its owner.
And how you look depends on where we are:
from a boat you are shore, from the shore a boat.
~Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
sunrise : 7.26 am
sunset : 4.38 pm
moonset : 7.29 am
moonrise : 4.36 pm
moonphase: full cold 12.38 pm
.....................................
You Are the Future
You are the future, the immense morning sky
turning red over the prairies of eternity.
You are the rooster-crow after the night of time,
the dew, the early devotions, and the Daughter,
the Guest, the Ancient Mother, and Death.
You are the shape that changes its own shape,
that climbs out of fate, towering,
that which is never shouted for, and never mourned for,
and no more explored than a savage wood.
You are the meaning deepest inside things,
that never reveals the secret of its owner.
And how you look depends on where we are:
from a boat you are shore, from the shore a boat.
~Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Robert Bly
.....................................
04 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.22am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 3.19am
moonrise : 2.30pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..10 days
.....................................
December Night
The cold slope is standing in darkness
But the south of the trees is dry to the touch
The heavy limbs climb into the moonlight bearing feathers
I came to watch these
White plants older at night
The oldest
Come first to the ruins
And I hear magpies kept awake by the moon
The water flows through its
Own fingers without end
Tonight once more
I find a single prayer and it is not for men
~W.S. Merwin
.....................................
sunrise : 7.22am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 3.19am
moonrise : 2.30pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..10 days
.....................................
December Night
The cold slope is standing in darkness
But the south of the trees is dry to the touch
The heavy limbs climb into the moonlight bearing feathers
I came to watch these
White plants older at night
The oldest
Come first to the ruins
And I hear magpies kept awake by the moon
The water flows through its
Own fingers without end
Tonight once more
I find a single prayer and it is not for men
~W.S. Merwin
.....................................
03 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.21am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 2.18am
moonrise : 2.10pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..9 days
.....................................
Stars Wheel in Purple
Stars wheel in purple, yours is not so rare
as Hesperus, nor yet so great a star
as bright Aldeboran or Sirius,
nor yet the stained and brilliant one of War;
stars turn in purple, glorious to the sight;
yours is not gracious as the Pleiads are
nor as Orion's sapphires, luminous;
yet disenchanted, cold, imperious face,
when all the others blighted, reel and fall,
your star, steel-set, keeps lone and frigid tryst
to freighted ships, baffled in wind and blast.
~H.D.
.....................................
sunrise : 7.21am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 2.18am
moonrise : 2.10pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..9 days
.....................................
Stars Wheel in Purple
Stars wheel in purple, yours is not so rare
as Hesperus, nor yet so great a star
as bright Aldeboran or Sirius,
nor yet the stained and brilliant one of War;
stars turn in purple, glorious to the sight;
yours is not gracious as the Pleiads are
nor as Orion's sapphires, luminous;
yet disenchanted, cold, imperious face,
when all the others blighted, reel and fall,
your star, steel-set, keeps lone and frigid tryst
to freighted ships, baffled in wind and blast.
~H.D.
.....................................
02 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.21am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 1.15am
moonrise : 1.57pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..8 days
.....................................
Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise the Rain
Beloved, let us once more praise the rain.
Let us discover some new alphabet,
For this, the often praised; and be ourselves,
The rain, the chickweed, and the burdock leaf,
The green-white privet flower, the spotted stone,
And all that welcomes the rain; the sparrow too,-
Who watches with a hard eye from seclusion,
Beneath the elm-tree bough, till rain is done.
There is an oriole who, upside down,
Hangs at his nest, and flicks an orange wing,-
Under a tree as dead and still as lead;
There is a single leaf, in all this heaven
Of leaves, which rain has loosened from its twig:
The stem breaks, and it falls, but it is caught
Upon a sister leaf, and thus she hangs;
There is an acorn cup, beside a mushroom
Which catches three drops from the stooping cloud.
The timid bee goes back to the hive; the fly
Under the broad leaf of the hollyhock
Perpends stupid with cold; the raindark snail
Surveys the wet world from a watery stone...
And still the syllables of water whisper:
The wheel of cloud whirs slowly: while we wait
In the dark room; and in your heart I find
One silver raindrop,-on a hawthorn leaf,-
Orion in a cobweb, and the World.
~Conrad Aiken
.....................................
sunrise : 7.21am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 1.15am
moonrise : 1.57pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..8 days
.....................................
Beloved, Let Us Once More Praise the Rain
Beloved, let us once more praise the rain.
Let us discover some new alphabet,
For this, the often praised; and be ourselves,
The rain, the chickweed, and the burdock leaf,
The green-white privet flower, the spotted stone,
And all that welcomes the rain; the sparrow too,-
Who watches with a hard eye from seclusion,
Beneath the elm-tree bough, till rain is done.
There is an oriole who, upside down,
Hangs at his nest, and flicks an orange wing,-
Under a tree as dead and still as lead;
There is a single leaf, in all this heaven
Of leaves, which rain has loosened from its twig:
The stem breaks, and it falls, but it is caught
Upon a sister leaf, and thus she hangs;
There is an acorn cup, beside a mushroom
Which catches three drops from the stooping cloud.
The timid bee goes back to the hive; the fly
Under the broad leaf of the hollyhock
Perpends stupid with cold; the raindark snail
Surveys the wet world from a watery stone...
And still the syllables of water whisper:
The wheel of cloud whirs slowly: while we wait
In the dark room; and in your heart I find
One silver raindrop,-on a hawthorn leaf,-
Orion in a cobweb, and the World.
~Conrad Aiken
.....................................
01 December 2003
::today
sunrise : 7.19am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 12.11am
moonrise : 1.30pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..7 days
.....................................
Night Journey
Now as the train bears west,
Its rhythm rocks the earth,
And from my Pullman berth
I stare into the night
While others take their rest.
Bridges of iron lace,
A suddenness of trees,
A lap of mountain mist
All cross my line of sight,
Then a bleak wasted place,
And a lake below my knees.
Full on my neck I feel
The straining at a curve;
My muscles move with steel,
I wake in every nerve.
I watch a beacon swing
From dark to blazing bright;
We thunder through ravines
And gullies washed with light.
Beyond the mountain pass
Mist deepens on the pane;
We rush into a rain
That rattles double glass.
Wheels shake the roadbed stone,
The pistons jerk and shove,
I stay up half the night
To see the land I love.
~Theodore Roethke
.....................................
sunrise : 7.19am
sunset : 4.39pm
moonset : 12.11am
moonrise : 1.30pm
moonphase: waxing gibbous..7 days
.....................................
Night Journey
Now as the train bears west,
Its rhythm rocks the earth,
And from my Pullman berth
I stare into the night
While others take their rest.
Bridges of iron lace,
A suddenness of trees,
A lap of mountain mist
All cross my line of sight,
Then a bleak wasted place,
And a lake below my knees.
Full on my neck I feel
The straining at a curve;
My muscles move with steel,
I wake in every nerve.
I watch a beacon swing
From dark to blazing bright;
We thunder through ravines
And gullies washed with light.
Beyond the mountain pass
Mist deepens on the pane;
We rush into a rain
That rattles double glass.
Wheels shake the roadbed stone,
The pistons jerk and shove,
I stay up half the night
To see the land I love.
~Theodore Roethke
.....................................
LINKS
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F A C T S
:: 42.16 lat -122.62 long
:: zone 7
:: elevation 1374
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