#walkmyworld -Learning Event Four - Dawn

Dawn 

Learning Event Response -

Read and annotate Dawn by Dorothea MacKellar. Read The Fierce Country by Douglas Stewart. The first poem, Dawn is an Australian poem that reflects a landscape, time, and place that was very important to the poet, Dorothea Mackellar. The New Zealand-born poet, Douglas Stewart, offers a harsher Australian landscape in The Fierce Country. Think about the imagery these two poems create. 

What kind of landscape represents you? Would your landscape be harsh, dry, and hot or cool, lush, and green? Do you have a favourite time of day? Does it contain despair, hope or joy? Is it the end or the beginning of a journey? Have you ever witnessed a ‘miracle’ whilst walking ‘the common way’? 

Create  a visual, written, and/or audio text which best captures the essence of your dawn. Try and incorporate features of your landscape. You may want to link to a poem, poet, or song that is unique to your country or culture. 

Share your response using the #WalkMyWorld hashtag on twitter.

My Response - 

Dawn

By Dorothea Mackellar

At the dawning of the day,
On the road to Gunnedah,
When the sky is pink and grey
As the wings of a wild galah,
And the last night-shadow ebbs

(The events of yesterday or last night are fading memories)

From the trees like a falling tide,
And the dew-hung spiderwebs
On the grass-blades spread far and wide -

(There is a new chance to grow like the blades of grass and the wings of the wild galah)

Each sharp spike loaded well,
Bent down low with the heavy dew -
Wait the daily miracle
When the world is all made anew:

(Each day is a fresh start; a new beginning)
When the sun's rim lifts beyond
The horizon turned crystal-white,
And a sea of diamond
Is the plain to the dazzled sight.

At the dawning of the day,
To my happiness thus it fell:
That I went the common way,
And I witnessed a miracle.

(Every day the sunrises and a new day begins, but do we take the time to stop and recognize this miracle?)

When thinking about the landscape that represents me, I can't help but recall summers as a young child.  Growing up in Georgia, most summer evenings were spent outside.  The smells, the sounds, and  the visual images come flooding back to me.  The time of day is dusk, but I never found the end of the day to be the end of anything.  It was always the point in the day when a new game was created or a new friendship formed.  So much happened in those hours before the sun set and we were called in for bath and bed time.  To this day, dusk is my favorite time of day because it is constrained by the hustle and bustle of work life, but is centered around being at home with family and loved ones.  The miracle in dusk for me is that everyone and everything is alive! Dawn can feel isolating as not everyone is awake to see the sunrise, but at dusk, the world is a buzz.  

For this learning event, I chose to create a Word Cloud to represent what dusk looks and feels like to me.  The link allows you to magnetize certain words but in case it doesn't work for everyone, I have included the image below.  Regardless of how you view my "dawn" please enjoy the sweet sounds of Ray Charles and Georgia on my Mind.