Carpe Diem!

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καί νύ κ' ὀδυρομένοισι φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς,
εἰ μὴ ἄρ' ἄλλ' ἐνόησε θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη.
νύκτα μὲν ἐν περάτῃ δολιχὴν σχέθεν, Ἠῶ δ' αὖτε
ῥύσατ' ἐπ' Ὠκεανῷ χρυσόθρονον, οὐδ' ἔα ἵππους
ζεύγνυσθ' ὠκύποδας, φάος ἀνθρώποισι φέροντας,
Λάμπον καὶ Φαέθονθ', οἵ τ' Ἠῶ πῶλοι ἀγουσι.


Dawn with her rose-red fingers might have shone
upon their tears, if with her glinting eyes
Athena had not thought of one more thing.
She held back the night, and night lingered long
at the western edge of the earth, while in the east
she reined in Dawn of the golden throne at Ocean's banks,
commanding her not to yoke the windswift team that brings men light,
Blaze and Aurora, the young colts that race the morning on.

Homer: The Odyssey, XXIII.273-280, trans. Fagles.

These few lines from the Odyssey are taken from the near end of Odysseus' adventure. After a twenty year absence from Ithaca, he's made it home, and is reunited with his wife, Penelope. Odysseus and his wife have twenty years of trials and tribulations, battles and vixens, sea voyages and suitors to recount. One night is just not enough, so Athene, Odysseus' immortal guardian, takes action to prevent rosy fingered dawn from casting her tendrils of light across the earth. Selene's chariot must hoist the moon higher, and allow the starlight to linger, leaving Dawn's horses expectant at Ocean's edge. Time stands still that night.

Why quote Homer today? As I admired " rose-fingered dawn" in all her beauty here at the beach this mornin, It made me think that sometimes, one wants the night to linger, sometimes one cannot wait for daybreak.
This morning at daybreak nothing could have forced me to stay in bed one minute longer. The sunrise over the ocean was so spectacular, that I hopped out from under my covers and enjoyed the beautiful show from our balcony. And a show it was. It made me happy to be alive.
I love seeing the horizon when I am out of New York City. I tend to forget the vastness of the sky. The stars and moon over the ocean, the rising sun, I am in awe of it all. Not that I want to live here at Surfside Beach year-round, but when I spend time outside of the city, a calmness comes over me. And I like it.
So here is to another day, bright and clear ( here in South Carolina at least.) And I am happy...