Themes :
Sun

The sun, like the moon, is often used in sacred poetry as a metaphor for the experience of enilghtenment. But, unlike the moon, the sun is steady, unchanging, unlimited.

The sun is unbounded, divine Awareness. It is that which shines continuously, regardless of how much light the individual consciousness (the moon) recognizes and reflects.

In this sense, the sun is often recognized as a metaphor for God (and in the West, Christ), that aspect of the Divine that is eternal and constant. The moon, on the other hand, represents individual (reflected) consciousness and the full moon represents the enlightened individual consciousness.

Poems with the theme of Sun

  In Praise of the Earth
  Abhishiktananda, Swami (Le Saux, Henri) Arunachala is a symbol
  Akha Speaker of truth and the sun -- these two
  Akha When one settles into a state of desirelessness
  Akhmatova, Anna A land not mine, still
  Alighieri, Dante And as a ray descending from the sky (from The Paradiso, Canto I)
  Andal The full moon day of Margazhi is here (from Tiruppavai)
  Andal The lotus is greeting the rising sun and the lily has closed its petals; (from Tiruppavai)
  Angelou, Maya A Brave and Startling Truth
  Angelou, Maya Caged Bird
  Angelou, Maya Phenomenal Woman
  Attar, Farid ud-Din About True Seekers
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Dullard Sage
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The pilgrim sees no form but His and knows
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Simurgh
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The peacock's excuse
  Attar, Farid ud-Din All who, reflecting as reflected see
  Attar, Farid ud-Din Mysticism
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Birds Find Their King
  Attar, Farid ud-Din The Eternal Mirror
  Ayaz In every moment I am free
  Ayaz The Making of Sand
  Barker, Elsa He Who Knows Love
  Beni Raga Ramkali
  Bernart de Ventadorn When I see the lark beating
  Blake, William Auguries of Innocence
  Blake, William Eternity
  Booth, Philip How to See a Deer
  Brabazon, Francis Dawn is a Friend
  Brabazon, Francis Once God, that Great Being (from Stay With God)
  Brabazon, Francis We have waited all night for you, and now the dawn is come
  Bronte, Emily Last Lines
  Broughton, James The Bliss of With
  Carpenter, Edward The Central Calm
  Carpenter, Edward The sun shines, as of old
  Catherine of Siena Consumed in Grace
  Colliver, Andrew A Day of Light
  Colliver, Andrew When the World Comes Clear
  cummings, e. e. i am a little church(no great cathedral)
  cummings, e. e. i carry your heart with me
  Dadu Dayal So priceless is the birth, O brother
  Dariya Sahib of Bihar Without love there can be no devotion and wisdom (from Love Chapter)
  Dasimayya, Devara What can I hurt now
  Dickinson, Emily I taste a liquor never brewed
  Dickinson, Emily I see thee better -- in the Dark
  Dickinson, Emily It was a quiet way
  Dickinson, Emily There is a Zone whose even Years
  Efendi, Seyh Ibrahim The Sufi Way
  Feuerstein, Georg Dawn of Wisdom
  Fox, John Blown Home
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Francis of Assisi The Canticle of Brother Sun
  Galib, Seyh Love is a lamp of God, I am its moth
  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Something Like the Sun
  Granger, Ivan M. Twelve Ways to Lose Your Head on Maui
  Granger, Ivan M. in love with the new sun
  Granger, Ivan M. Adi Atman 9: you you
  Gyatso, Kelsang Little Tiger
  ha Nagid, Samuel On Fleeing His City
  Hafiz Cupbearer, it is morning, fill my cup with wine
  Hafiz Sun Rays
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) A Crystal Rim
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) How Could a Lover Fall?
  Hafiz (Ladinsky, Daniel) Why Aren't We Screaming Drunks?
  Hanh, Thich Nhat Looking for Each Other
  Hao-jan, Meng A Night on the River
  Hawaiian (Anonymous) E ala e
  Hawaiian (Anonymous) Ho'opuka E Ka La (Rise, O Sun)
  Hayati, Bibi Before there was a hint of civilization
  Hildegard von Bingen Columba aspexit / Sequence for Saint Maximin
  Hildegard von Bingen O Euchari in leta via / Sequence for Saint Eucharius
  Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia / Yoka Genkaku [63] However the burning iron ring revolves around my head (from The Shodoka)
  Ibn al-Farid, Umar In memory of the beloved (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
  ibn Gabirol, Solomon The Sun
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin It speaks to me in the silence of this one
  Iraqi, Fakhruddin Know yourself: a cloud
  Islam, Nazrul Song of Dawn
  Izzet, Asik Ali The Path of the Beautiful
  Jacopone da Todi (Benedetti, Jacopone) Now, a new creature
  Jimenez, Juan Ramon Who Knows What is Going On
  Jnaneshwar The Refutation of Knowledge (from Amritanubhav)
  Kabir Between the conscious and the unconscious, the mind has put up a swing
  Kabir The Guest is inside you, and also inside me
  Kabir The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright
  Kabir The Lord is in Me
  Kerouac, Jack The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
  Krishnamurti, Jiddu Ah, Come Sit Beside Me
  Lakota (Anonymous) Three Lakota Songs
  Lalla Intense cold makes water ice
  Lawrence, D. H. Glory
  Levertov, Denise Stepping Westward
  Llull, Ramon January (from The Book of the Lover and Beloved)
  Machado, Antonio Last night, as I was sleeping
  Machado, Antonio Last night, as I was sleeping [Bly]
  Machado, Antonio Proverbs and Songs
  Machado, Antonio Songs
  Maharshi, Ramana The Marital Garland of Letters
  McCombs, Chris Finish Me Off
  Merton, Thomas Night-Flowering Cactus
  Merton, Thomas O Sweet Irrational Worship
  Merton, Thomas Song for Nobody
  Merton, Thomas Stranger
  Merwin, W. S. Finding a Teacher
  Meshullam da Piera Song at Dawn
  Milosz, Czeslaw A Song on the End of the World
  Milosz, Czeslaw Forget
  Mirabai The Five-Coloured Garment
  Nasimi, Imadeddin At love's most sumptuous feast was I with love made drunk
  Nawaz, Gharib Riddle
  Niffari (an-Niffari, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan) The Standing "My Time Has Come"
  Novalis Uplifted is the stone
  O'Brian, Ellen Grace Anahata
  Oliver, Mary Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?
  Oliver, Mary Morning Poem
  Oliver, Mary Sunrise
  Oliver, Mary The Buddha's Last Instruction
  Oliver, Mary This World
  Oliver, Mary Wild Geese
  Plunkett, Joseph Mary I Saw the Sun at Midnight
  Porete, Marguerite How Truth Praises Such Souls
  Rahman Baba Soul Train
  Ramprasad (Sen, Ramprasad) Meditate on Kali! Why be anxious?
  Ramsay, Jay Blessed Unrest
  Ramsay, Jay Infinity and Beyond
  Rilke, Rainer Maria We say release, and radiance, and roses
  Rosenstock, Gabriel in a Transylvanian mud-bath
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (2) From each and every pore (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rosenstock, Gabriel (4) A daisy picked (from Year of the Goddess)
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin How long will you say, "I will conquer the whole world
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin I lost my world, my fame, my mind
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin Reason, leave now! You'll not find wisdom here!
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin That moon which the sky never saw
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin The Sun Must Come
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin This love sacrifices all souls, however wise, however "awakened"
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin What can I do, Muslims? I do not know myself
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin What I want is to see your face
  Rumi, Mevlana Jelaluddin A World with No Boundaries (Ghazal 363)
  Ryokan First days of spring -- the sky
  Ryokan The Lotus
  Sanai, Hakim Meditation
  Sanai, Hakim Naked in the Bee-House
  Sanai, Hakim Streaming
  Saraha The Royal Song of Saraha (Dohakosa)
  Sarmad Companion
  Saure, Gunter Forever Now
  Shabistari, Mahmud The Mirror (from The Secret Rose Garden)
  Shabkar (Rangdrol, Shabkar Tsogdruk) Sky empty and luminous
  Shankara In Praise of the Goddess
  Shih Shu "nothing to do; nothing to lose"
  Shore, Laura Jan Don't Say It
  silent lotus Our Remains
  Singh, Darshan In what state was I
  Snyder, Gary For All
  Solovyov, Vladimir Sophia in Egypt (from Three Meetings)
  Solovyov, Vladimir Three Meetings
  Stevens, Wallace Not Ideas About the Thing but the Thing Itself
  Surdas Krishna Awakes
  Symeon the New Theologian How is it I can love You
  Symeon the New Theologian You, oh Christ, are the Kingdom of Heaven
  Szymborska, Wislawa Miracle Fair
  T'ao Ch'ien Autumn chrysanthemums have beautiful color
  T'ao Ch'ien Success and failure? No known address
  Tagore, Rabindranath (80) I am like a remnant of a cloud of autumn (from Gitanjali)
  Taliesin A Poem for the Wind
  Tennyson, Alfred If thou would'st hear the Nameless (from The Ancient Sage)
  Teresa of Avila In the Hands of God
  Therese of Lisieux The Divine Dew
  Thomas, R. S. The Bright Field
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Eärendil the Mariner
  Tolkien, J. R. R. I sit beside the fire and think
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Legolas's Song of the Sea
  Tolkien, J. R. R. Sam's Song of Strength
  Traherne, Thomas My Spirit
  Traherne, Thomas The Rapture
  Trungpa, Chogyam Purifying and Invoking the Four Directions
  Tu Fu Rain, Four Poems: Two Selections
  Ueshiba, Morihei The rays of the rising sun flow in
  Vaughan, Henry The Night
  Walters, Dorothy A Cloth of Fine Gold
  Wei, Wang Fields and Gardens by the River Qi
  Whitman, Walt Pioneers! O Pioneers!
  Whitman, Walt [2] Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes (from Song of Myself)
  Whitman, Walt [24] Walt Whitman, a cosmos, of Manhattan the son (from Song of Myself)
  Wordsworth, William Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
  Wordsworth, William "If the dear faculty of sight should fail (from The Excursion, Book 4)
  Wordsworth, William Such was the Boy--but for the growing Youth (from The Excursion, Book 1)
  Wright, Richard All right, You Sparrows
  Wright, Richard I am nobody:
  Yen-shou, Yung-ming Immovable Mind
  Yogananda, Paramahansa Thy light transfigures all creation
  Yun-k'an Tzu no tricks
  Yun, Hsu Mirror Pond on Mount Taibo in Shanxi
Wine