Sunrise

Word of the Day Wednesday, February 03, 2010

aubade

\oh-BAHD\ , noun;

1. A song or poem greeting the dawn; also, a composition suggestive of morning.

He slowly pushed the door open and saw that his wife was curled up asleep on one side of the bed. Her slow, rhythmic breathing a familiar night-time sound. He continued pushing the door open just short of the point where it would let out a metallic squeak and slid through the gap into the room.

It was just before dawn, and even though he had been awake for almost 31 hours he couldn't relax enough to sit still, let alone fall asleep.

He softly shuffled over to the bassinet and peaked over at the tiny bundle that was his brand new son.

He stared in silence for a moment, watching every finger wiggle and eye-lid flutter with a heart-breaking tenderness. He thought his presence had gone unnoticed until the tiny eyes fluttered open and stared blearily up at him.

The sun was just starting to peak over the crest of the hills on the horizon filling the morning sky with the first pink streaks and smudges. He carefully leaned over and scooped his baby out of the bassinet and carried him over to the window.

"Look at that," he whispered in his son's ear, "Your first sunrise." As the golden light slowly started to spill into the room he softly started to murmur the first tune that came to his head. He was surprised to hear the aubade his father had always sang to him, and was rocketed back to the memories of his four year old self and watching the sun rise over lake at their cabin early one summer morning while the rest of the family slept. His father's sweet voice drawing the sun over the hills.

He gently rocked the two of them back and forth and sang his son into the first day of the rest of his life.