Wherever

It Was Early by Mary Oliver from Evidence (Beacon Press)
It was early,
  which has always been my hour
    to begin looking
      at the world

and of course,
  even in the darkness,
    to begin
      listening into it,

especially
  under the pines
    where the owl lives
      and sometimes calls out

as I walk by,
  as he did
    on this morning.
      So many gifts!

What do they mean?
  In the marshes
    where the pink light
      was just arriving

the mink
  with his bristle tail
    was stalking
      the soft-eared mice,

and in the pines
  the cones were heavy,
    each one
      ordained to open.

Sometimes I need
  only to stand
    wherever I am
      to be blessed.

Little mink, let me watch you.
  Little mice, run and run.
    Dear pine cone, let me hold you
      as you open.

Edward Hopper - Cape Cod Morning

For some reason, I've been awake early these past few mornings.  It's still dark outside when I open my eyes so I lie in bed and listen to the world waking up outside my window.  At first I wonder how I've managed to sleep through the insect noises during the night.  The crickets and cicadas drown out the sounds of the pre-dawn commuters on Connecticut Avenue.  As the traffic picks up, so do the birds arriving in the backyard looking for breakfast.  Before too long I'll start hearing the early morning honks of geese flying overhead but for now it's mainly the tweets and whistles of robins, wrens, and the occasional caws of a murder of crows.

With the birds, comes a tinge of light.  I've been pulling back my curtains, trying to see the sunrise but the horizon is obscured by trees and houses.  Rather than a dramatic, colorful unfolding, day light arrives like a faulty halogen light, taking its time getting brighter.    By the time the bus pauses at the stop nearby and announces in its automated female voice, "L8, Friendship Heights," morning has arrived.

Sometimes I read Mary Oliver and wonder if I'd be more of a morning person if I could step out of my house and walk a few yards into the woods, to the beach, or to a nearby pond.  And sometimes I need only to stand (or lie) wherever I am to be blessed.