Have you ever met Brother Sun? Have you ever spoken with him? Have you ever sat in silence with him, the way you do with someone you love?
If you find yourself with a spare moment one of these vacation days, when the sun holds the center of life, try watching him.
You'll see him begin his work with a caress to the earth. While everyone still sleeps, he wakes her, drying the tears of night that dew has scattered here and there across the leaves.
He continues his labor, slipping quietly through the gap of a half-closed window to wake the child still asleep, to begin with her the first games of the day. He, so great, so distant, so tireless (must he not warm the entire earth?), knows how to make himself small and gentle. The child, with a little mirror, carries him where he could never go on his own. There he is in the grandfather's eye as his shoulders, bent with years, begin to doze—and suddenly! he surprises the man who thought himself alone. And there! in the tourist's glasses, irritating that small, intrusive sun.
After these morning games, he continues his course, lighting faces, warming hearts, giving joy to all he meets.
We might call him the "universal brother." Loved by all, desired by all. Is there anyone else who has known how to give so much joy?
Humble, he does not grow angry when, in the heat of summer, people shut the door in his face. He waits for the moment when, the siesta ended, he will be welcomed once more.
He knows well that his presence can sometimes be hard to bear. He too has his limits, and so he smiles at the impatience of the laborer whose forehead drips with sweat. He knows that deep in the heart, his sister Rain is preferred.
Then, slowly, he goes to sleep behind the hill. Still he hears the child asking: "Dad, why does the Sun put on red pajamas when he goes to bed?"
With a caress he had woken the earth. With a caress he invites her to sleep.
Vacation time, summer time. We must awaken in ourselves the soul of the poet, the soul that knows how to look at things as friends, that learns to harmonize with the great Poet who creates all.