Matine

When you wake quietly
(Very quietly, mind you,
with all the rush of the still wind
passing over a night-bird’s wings)
and step outside at dawn,
you can hear the song of Ra
as He ascends into the sky;
you can feel the play of His rays
on your skin chiming like music
as they shudder and shine on your bare arms.
Ra rises like a fire in the sky.
Ra rises like a great gold eye,
the round eye of the hawk,
the round eye of the uraeus;
Ra rises like the great gold eye.
Smiling as He shifts and changes
from the stillness and night
into the life, in to the light
and shining chorus of day,
He blesses His children
as we greet him with stretches and prayer.