Prairie Sunrise

On a cool spring morning, we roll out of bed at 4:30. The goal is to watch the sun rise over Owl Acres. It’s been doing that forever, but I don’t remember many times, if ever, that I’ve paid attention to the sunrise per se. Today I have asked Bryan to narrate the event. We put on jackets, grab our coffee, and head out into the almost night world. The inky black of the night sky is already softening, and Venus, the morning star, is rising in the east. The sky is clear, and the stars shining in its dome are beginning to fade just a little. To the north, the lights of traffic on the interstate and the lights of a nearby communication tower remind us of the larger world. We try to ignore it though, and concentrate on the sky over Owl Acres and the surrounding countryside.

The sun will rise in the northeast quadrant of the sky. It is nearing its most northerly point in our sky as we approach the summer solstice. As we watch, a dull red line fades into the horizon, reaching its arms in a low arc from north through northeast to east. Above the red, a dimly glowing green appears. The green transitions into a broader band of dimly glowing blue which edges the graying sky. Night still covers the land, allowing only black silhouettes against the dawning sky. To the northeast, the outlines of trees on the far bank of the nearby creek define the near horizon.

Neither time nor the world stand still, so as we watch, Venus rises a few more degrees into the brightening sky. The dull red and green arcs of the nascent sunrise glow a bit brighter. A lone robin opens the avian chorus with his hopeful song. As more singers join him, the dull red on the northeastern horizon brightens to orange. The orange and green bands remain low on the northeast horizon, attenuating toward the north and east. The blue band above them broadens and stretches, as it pushes back the night sky.

An eastern wood peewee joins the morning exercises, as the dull red in the northeast morphs into that rosy peach that I remember so well. The green band above it, tinged with yellow now, dissipates gradually, as its blue neighbor expands into the gray gloaming. The overall light in the sky brightens and we realize that the land has begun to shake off its night clothes in favor of the verdant greens of this spring day. Colors emerge in the fence row that separates Owl Acres from the surrounding field. Last year’s corn stubble is tan now, and the beans planted in it are specks of green. The old shed on Owl Acres becomes red in its old paint, and the fence row that runs down the middle of the east half of Owl Acres is also green now, with accents of white flowers. The barn to the south has turned from a shadow to red, with its green metal roof visible against the ever-brightening sky. My red hair picks up the light, and my jacket becomes discernably green.  

The sky continues to grow brighter and bluer. The peach in the northeast marks where the ball of the sun will emerge. As we watch, it draws in its outstretched arms and swallows the green band above it, coalescing more and more into a single spot in the brightening sky. Right on schedule, the yellow disk of the sun breaks over the horizon.  It thanks the peach for its service and as a common yellowthroat calls to his mate, the sun shines through the trees, throwing long shadows as it rises. The shadows will shorten as the sun’s chariot climbs higher in the sky, taking control of the day.

I should get up early more often!

Photo by author