In the cold and gray comfort of the morning

I stare at the skyline above my city.

6:14am

A cool colorless light seeps into the sky

Brightening the dullness.

City lights twinkle

Then gradually flicker off.

The light gains color and intensity

From subtle pink to dark orange.

I feel my fingertips and toes smile at newfound heat.

I sense excitement in the sky.

I know it is nearly time.

The splash of dark orange

Is shattered by glowing yellow and white rays.

Like a warm egg yolk dribbling upward against gravity,

The sun climbs the mountain of orange into the vast blueness above.

6:59 am

I stand

Arms outstretched, neck falling back,

Swallowing the essence of the Sun.

I taste it's power.

I am powerful.

I taste its fierceness.

I am fierce.

I taste it's vulnerability.

I am vulnerable.

I taste it's shameless authenticity.

I am authentic.

Unfiltered.

The rawness of the sun is the truth in me.

The sun will set, invisible to all of Earth.

Yet it exists, continuing to orbit.

Though the sun hides when the moon comes out,

each morning it still will rise.

The sun will show its glimmering face to the world-

proudly shining, smiling, staying.

Each morning I will rise.

I will show my face to the world.

I will show my power,

I will show my fierceness,

I will show my vulnerability,

I will show my authenticity.

The Sun,

to whom I communicate only through the unity of our energies,

I connect with deeper than the deepest oceanic corner on all of Earth.

In the presence of the Sun,

I feel comforted and afraid.

In the presence of the Sun,

I feel uncomfortable and fearless.

To feel everything and know nothing,

I bask in the golden warmth.

I bask in my own light.

I bask in the freedom to be unabashedly me.