‘Like an old Puritan’

Sunrise from the summit of Cadillac Mountain, in Acadia National Park, Maine. It’s known as the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise, although that is only true for part of the year.

“It’s New England time,

the sun

comes like an old puritan

and it rises over the ocean

and gives leave to the flight of the birds,

it lights a window in Amherst

where the eyes of a woman contemplate the world….’’

— From “The Balada of New England,’’ by Fernando Valverde as translated by Carolyn Forche.

Here’s the whole poem.