Describing A Sunrise

When I was fourteen my mother told me and my sister Gail, “All us girls are going to stay up tonight to see the sunrise.” Also she said, “ A sunrise in the morning is the best time of day.”

I was tired, and didn’t understand what mom really meant. At dawn we saw the sun. Bringing up a family and working nights on the 11 – 7 shift, since then I’ve seen many a sunrise.

But to describe one it is hard to say because everyone sees it differently. Here are three different writers, from Hemmingway and other short stories. Hemmingway described it as “ The sun came up.”

In the Odyssey Homer described it as “Rosy – fingered Dawn appeared,” or Dawn is “The Child of morning. “

In the book called Absolutely Normal Chaos, Sharon Creech wrote it this way: “Little baby with pink fingers crawling over the horizon.”

Here is my description of a sunrise: “The Dawn’s rosy light is just beginning to peek over the roof tops.”

Now years later, I know what my mother meant when she said, “A sunrise is the best time of day.” It means to be a good writer, or any good artist you need that quiet to hear yourself think. It is the ideal time to smell the fresh air of dawn, which energizes the senses with new ideas of the day.

By Marguerite J. Badger

Jan 18, 2005