Dawn
An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer
China ‘crost the Bay!
Rudyard Kipling (1890)
Indeed in the tropics the vertically ascending sun does crash like thunder into the day leaving little time for rumination. In contrast, here in the British Islands, the dawn insinuates. Its progress is subtle, infinitely varied. And so too with
dusk,
A page on dusk.
the light in summer hanging on by its finger tips for hours, indeed in northern parts rescinding its grip more to a dull grey, than to darkness. While in Scotland we are not presented with a sudden drama, we are allowed diurnal spaces with time
to reflect
Meditation versus reflection.
on, to plan, and to absorb the birth and the death of each day.
Mandalay, the title Kipling gave to his poem, is far from the sea, and like China is hundreds of miles out of sight from any ‘Bay’ in the area. However, the ‘Bay’ Kipling was thinking of was that of Bengal, and he himself noted over this case, and for poetry in general, that it is not meant to be understood literally.
The photograph was taken in southern Scotland as the sun was rising, the warm rays seeping into the blue shadows within the deeper parts of the valley. The spire of a church in Moffat can be seen at the edge of the mist to the left.
Above hovering on blue introduces a link: click to go, move away to stay.
Saturday 15th June 2019
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