Greet the Day
Greet the sun
ya-hai-wa
ah-how-wi
face the sun
as it tops the ridge
speak to it
ya-hai-wa
ah-how-wi
say its name
invoke its light
its power
the rays pouring
on your bare head
ya-hai-wa
ah-how-wi
make a chant
a song
bring in the day
the long dawn
turning brighter
over sand or snow
ya-hai-wa
ah-how-wi
over a still lake
saguaro-filled arroyo
down to the salt flats
rounded alfalfa fields
sleeping ranches
ya-hai-wa
ah-how-wi
praise the silent forms
cattle, coyote, deer
brother, sister, setting moon
greet the day
.
Emily Strauss has an M.A. in English, but is self-taught in poetry, which she has written since college. Over 500 of her poems appear in a wide variety of online venues and in anthologies, in the U.S. and abroad. She is a Best of the Net and twice a Pushcart nominee. She is interested in the American West and the narratives of people and places around her. She is a retired teacher living in Oregon.
