On January 3, I wrote about my love for the early morning and posted images that I photographed as I walked in my neighborhood over the course of 2022. With the rain these past two weeks, the mornings have given forth more lovely images that I offer you along with three poems that elicit the glory of morning.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge – William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

“Earth has not anything to show more fair: / Dull would he be of soul who could pass by / A sight so touching in its majesty: / This City now doth, like a garment, wear / The beauty of the morning …”

Dawn – Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919)

“Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn; / Refreshed by his long sleep, the Light / Kisses the languid lips of Night, / Ere she can rise and hasten on …”

Morning – Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

“The mist has left the greening plain, / The dew-drops shine like fairy rain, / The coquette rose awakes again / Her lovely self adorning.

The Wind is hiding in the trees, / A sighing, soothing, laughing tease, / Until the rose says ‘Kiss me, please,’ / ‘Tis morning, ’tis morning.

With staff in hand and careless-free, / The wanderer fares right jauntily, / For towns and houses are, thinks he, / For scorning,  for scorning. / My soul is swift upon the wing, / And in its deeps a song I bring; / Come, Love, and we together sing, / ‘Tis morning, ’tis morning.”