Winter Sunrise

Winter Sunrise (excerpts from)

I turn to the window, and out of a low cloud
is a brimming--over of brightness; dazzling the eye
with levelled brilliance, fiery--fresh, the sun.

As in absent thought with dreaming eyes I gaze
on sudden shadows gliding across the rime
a vision comes before me in utter silence

the earth is moving, the earth is rolling over
all that is usual all that goes unquestioned
is taken from me
wider, wider the doors of vision are opening

let me not be so stunned that I cannot feel . . .
Imagination is but a little cup
it can hold but a minim part
can a little cup contain an ocean?

My dreaming eyes return
the flower of winter remembers its own season
and the beautiful shadow upon the pale wall
is imperceptibly moving with ancient earth
around the sun that timeless measures sure and silent.

Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)