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Song of the Morning

Song of the Morning

by Michael McCourt

Rise!
Wake up to the yawn of
    the world outside, where the
        darkness bows to the morning.
Hear the sparkling song of
    the birds and see the daffodils
        bend with the whisper of the
awakening wind and their
    trumpets announce the bursting
        day. Feel the cool wash of an April morning and the warm virgin
    sunlight cupping the gentle
        curve of chap and cheek.

Listen!
Joy begins as a seed in the     blossoming of each new day.
        It unfolds with the day, exploding
out from the centre like a universe.
    And if we are still, really still,
        we can hear its rare music —
the miracle and magic of the day.
    It sings a song of the forest and
        the field and the lake. Can you hear
the wind speak to the trees,
    the fox yelp to the grass, the
        children laugh to the sky?
A chorus of rejoicing!

Sing!
We can rejoice too, for we are
    alive to see the startling lawn
        of the world around us, and
it becomes the landscape of our
    days and years. And we can sing,
        too, a psalm that has
no language but
    joy!

About this Poem

Michael McCourt is a high school Music and English teacher here in Kingston. His writing has been published at Every Day Fiction, Green Ink Poetry and Paddler Press. You can find more of his writing at Confessions of a Part-Time Writer.

Joy Journals

Jason Heroux is interested in seeing what your "joy journal" looks like. What sort of images and moments and memories would be in there? Please send an example of a page from your joy journal to poetlaureate@cityofkingston.ca with the words "Joy Journal" in the subject line. It can be a poem, a list, a paragraph ... anything you like. A few submissions may be selected to appear as upcoming posts on the Poetry Blackboard.

About the Poetry Blackboard

The Poetry Blackboard showcases poems curated by Kingston's Poet Laureate and written by Kingston poets. There's a new poem every month, written by poets living and dead, historical and contemporary, published and unpublished, adults and children, giving full range to the cultural voice of Kingston. Started in 2015 by Helen Humphreys, the Poetry Blackboard has been continued since 2019 by Jason Heroux.

We wish to thank Helen Humphreys, Kingston's second Poet Laureate, for her generous support of emerging and established poets in Kingston through library programming and our Poetry Blackboard project. Throughout her four years as Poet Laureate, Helen curated a digital collection of poetry to showcase the talents of local creators of all ages, both historic and contemporary. Helen also offered several opportunities for emerging poets to develop their craft, offering group workshops and one-on-one mentorship. Her active engagement with the library and community has been greatly appreciated.

In 2019 we welcomed the incoming Poet Laureate, Jason Heroux, who continues to curate the Poetry Blackboard and to develop new community programming.

Previously Published Poems