When writing verse in my early twenties, the poems had a stream-of-consciousness quality to them. I struggled to direct this motivating drive into something coherent, but the ideas were partially obscured by a mind that did not have the necessary insight. Examples of these earlier efforts can be found in the section titled Pre-Dawning.In my early forties, life began to make more sense and the stream-of-consciousness structure began to feel more like a conscious effort, with a thoughtful reflection of themes that made greater sense. Examples of this later writing are in the section titled The Dawning. These works have a more coherent structure, and all reflect a growing effort to understand my relationship to life, to a spiritual dimension greater than myself, and to God. In the process of the new dawning, I comment on mundane real-life situations while becoming aware of the slow-developing truth of my being.