The sun

The sun is shining this morning. Is that really something worth blogging about? You notice I dare not even say 'today', but only 'this morning'. In this abysmal, dismal summer in which we are drowning this year, here in the UK, waking up to sunshine is certainly something worth noting.





I am a SAD case. Well, I may not actually suffer clinically from Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I sometimes think I am not far off it. Another summer like this one, and I could well lose my will to live.






OK - I don't want to depress you all. But I am sure there are few of you who will not resonate to what I am saying, except perhaps those who live in permanently sunny climes. My friends in Australia may not have the same problem, though they may have others.






So I have decided to celebrate the sun today. I searched Google Images for depictions of the sun. I was surprised at how few simple, graphic or cartoon-style images there were. I looked at 20 pages with 18 images on each, and found only 10 out of 360. I am offering you the best of these.






I also looked for poems about the sun. The first to catch my eye was one by Katrina Mathy which speaks directly from and to my heart:

I sit and wait for the sun to come
For the fog to clear
For I wish to leave this deep dark rest

I sit and wait for the sun to come
For the light to come back to my heart
For I wish to leave this barren cell

I sit and wait for the sun to come
For the rain to stop
For the thoughts to depart

I sit and wait for the sun to come
For the tears to stop
For the pain to cease

I sit and wait for the sun to come
For now it is too late
For now I will no longer come

But this is meant to be a celebration, so, a poem by Hafiz

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me"

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky

And finally a quotation from William Empson, which also takes the long, long view:

Gods cool in turn, by the sun long outlasted.