The sunlight that causes the sky to turn blue 
Seems to reveal everything within view. 
The sunlight each morning appears to reveal 
All in the world that is rightly called real: 
Pavement and businesses, buildings and birds, 
People and puppies, newspapers and words.  
But when the wind pushes the trees so they lean  
The wise must acknowledge that not all is seen. 

So when the night passes away from the dawn, 
How do we know what has come and has gone? 
Imagine that somehow the Sun went away,  
Along with its light that it brings in the day.  
Think for a moment of how it would be:   
What on that light-deprived Earth would you see? 
Our homes and our clothes and ourselves disappear 
Along with all tangible things that are here.  
While nothing on Earth would be seen by our eyes 
The opposite outcome applies to the skies. 
The stars now invisible, blocked by the air, 
Would no longer hide. Then we’d be aware  
Of every galaxy, every star 
Revealed in the darkness. They would not seem far. 
The dark of the night is a beautiful shower 
Of light in the heavens that glow in great power. 

So, when is all hidden and when is all shown? 
Has night-time perception diminished or grown? 
The smallest and gentlest heavenly light 
Would dwarf all earth with its matter and might.    
If one tiny star were compelled to draw near,  
And bring all its power from heaven down here,  
Who on the Earth do you think could prevail?  
The strength of strongest and fiercest would fail.  
They’d flee to the mountains and crawl in a cave 
Hopelessly hoping that hiding could save 
From gravity, majesty, fusion, and fire 
Consuming the Earth like a flame on a pyre. 

Think of such power and speak honestly:  
Is it the night or the day when we see? 
Think of the Moon and its heavenly pull  
On oceans and tides, of its light when it’s full. 
The gibbous and ghostly-grey Moon in the day 
Allows us to see in a parallel way 
How dimly seen objects in day can control 
The hopes, joys, and pains that can fall on the soul. 
Is Luna alone in her power and might?  
Does similar influence hide from our sight?  
Are thoughts and are memories moved like the leaves? 
Does heaven move souls like the wind moves the trees? 

So, think of the scope of the things that you know, 
What does the dark of the night to you show? 
Day lets you see both yourself and the world.  
Night lets you see all of heaven unfurled.  
What would one profit and what would be gained, 
If everything seen in the day was attained? 
What would one forfeit and what would be lost,  
If everything seen in the night was the cost?  

by J. Caleb Jones, all rights reserved