A New Day by Ruth Calder Murphy

I am and always have been an early riser. There’s something about waking up early, when the day is truly new and knowing that swathes of as yet untouched time is spread out before me. I realise that I might be an enigma to many who enjoy a lie-in and the bliss of lying under a duvet, knowing that they don’t have to get up – and I can understand that too – but for me, it’s getting up that I enjoy. Always before anyone else, with enough time to luxuriate in the solitude, create things and re-energise, all in the knowledge that the rest of the day is yet to come. The sense of opportunity – of possibility – is one of my favourite things, followed by the sense of achievement at having done these things already, before the day reaches double figures…

This poem, though, doesn’t only apply to me. Every day is a new day for each of us, whenever we step into it – and this is my hope, for every day: to seize it, fill it with wonder and beauty and make it a new yesterday, full of memories, with no regrets.

A New Day
This is a new day.
Its smooth perfection stretches
towards its end.
I will make footprints
and pathways,
stories
and memories
to colour its emptiness.
I will seize this day
and make it explode into
colourful stars
that will burn bright
and light my way
to tomorrow.
This is a new day.
I will make it a new yesterday
where my remembered Self
can rest
without regret.

by Ruth Calder Murphy, shared with permission from her book, Spirit Song.