Sunrise Sunset

Few sights and products of nature can rival the awesome beauty and expectation-laden awakening to a new day of a special sunrise. In similar vein, the transition between day and night is heralded by a sunset that can often mesmerise in its captivating contrasts and cloud-enhanced glow, that hints of the reward of rest after a good day’s work. Those devotees to the regular, almost ritualistic, observance of these two solar system driven events, understand that there is much variation tied to prevailing weather and atmospheric conditions...adding to the allure in its unpredictability. Yet the events occur with unerring regularity.

On another level, the song “Sunrise Sunset” (sung by Perry Como with lyrics by Lewis Bock Jerrold / Sheldon Harnick), introduces a human dimension that is also particularly powerful and reflects the inexorable passing of time:

“Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don’t remember growing older?

When did they?”

Many parents are likely to agree that the ‘suddenness’ of the realisation that their ‘sunrise’ children have grown up conjures up a measure of yearning for earlier and cherished times of the exuberance of youth and shared experiences of ‘growing up’. It is also a sobering reminder that the sunset approaches. Sometimes the reality of missed opportunities grows into regrets and thoughts of what could have been.

Later in the song the powerful verse that reflects the realities of life and time occurs:

“Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset!

Swiftly fly the years,

One season following another,

Laden with happiness and tears ...”

As each of us travels our individual passage of life from the glorious sunrise of birth, we would do well to remind ourselves on a regular basis, that every opportunity should be taken energetically and that ‘ Time and tide wait for no man.’

As the magnificent sunrises and sunsets of day and night are mirrored in the paths of our lives, the awesome order of the universe manifests itself in so many ways ... sometimes in ways that are beyond the understanding of mere mortals.

It can be argued that the thoughts reflected above encourage a strong appreciation of the natural order of things, the sunrises and sunsets of life and the inextricable bonds between man and nature. We are duty-bound to respect, nurture and conserve nature (the survival of our planet depends on it), and to celebrate life through all of its stages.