Clarice Thompson: "Morning in December"

In the dark kitchen

I raise the window shade.

The morning star glistens.

alone in black space.

Something in me, near my heart,

soars up to meet it,

touches it briefly

and returns.

How insignificant I am,

How tiny in a universe

where even that star

is miniscule.

I turn from the window,

reassured, stronger.

My tiny world, larger

almost in order.

"Morning in December" by Clarice Thompson. Published by Lansing Online News, April 17, 2011.

Photography credit: Detail of "December Moon Meets Evening Star," by Dan Bush (originally color).