Skip to main content

Sunsets


 
My older daughter, the one who writes, works nights in Baltimore. She has collected quite a few sunsets.



Photos by Alice K.E. Chwazik

Not long after she shared these photos to social media, she posted this poem. I am sharing it here with her permission. 




Is the world more beautiful
Because it's ending? Long hours I watch 
The sun set over my small broken city, 
My small home in this broken world, 
And I think no, it could not be more beautiful.
I watch the sun when I should be working, 
Earning what they call a living, breaking 
All my bones one step at a time. The world 
Is dying and we are killing it, and I am killing 
Myself each day just so I might live. And I think - 
Was the sky like this when the world was whole?
Orange and pink and ochre and cerulean?
The colors of mangos and papayas and chilis 
And smoked salt? When we weren't burning it, 
Not yet, but watching stars in their unrestrained 
Profusion, nestled in tall grasses, holding hands 
And wondering in awe. And was there a world, 
Then, where I might rest, where every day 
Weren't fashioned in fear, where I didn't hurt?
Could the sky have felt like this, in that other 
Quiet place, without the fire and the pain?
Or is beauty made of these things, these sharp 
And fractured things, which are lives toiling
To live under the sky they burn?

- - Alice Kathryn Elisabeth Chwazik


*****

I know this isn’t local, and it doesn’t fit at all within the boundaries of my blog. But I’m having the kind of day where words elude me and pictures of sunsets say more to me than a thousand news articles and press releases. 

What do you think of when you see the sunset? When was the last time you were able to make the time to just stop and experience one?
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more