Sunrise Poem by Roger Shields

I could be the sunrise,

If in a new day,

As clean and clear as the stars

Last night shone over the desert,

I rose and sparkled.


I could be the sunrise

If as pale light’s tendrils

Reach the sleeping folds of the earth

And the soft breeze whispers through the grass,

I exhaled.


I could be the sunrise

If as folded petals of the cactus flower

Slowly unfurl in the burgeoning glow

My love

‘Til now shivering under the inconsequential sheet

Is warmed and nurtured

By my dawning