Chasing the Setting Sun

I have spent my life chasing the setting sun;
I had felt unnerved as I watched it dip below the horizon,
And thought I had to dash after it.
I had believed it was leaving me behind.
And in a way, it did just that;
For darkness enveloped me
As I ran desperately toward the receding rays.

Alarmed and dismayed, I sat...
Or maybe crumpled in a heap on the ground,
And began to weep.
Why had the sun forsaken me?
Why did the sun take its comforting warmth from me?
How could I get it back? For I needed all it provided.

When I at last ran out of tears, I looked about
And saw a few pinpricks of light in the sky
And wondered what they could be.
I didn't know heavy storm clouds were blotting out
Even more of them.
Still feeling left alone in the dark,
A torrential rain began to fall
Buffeting harshly against my bare skin.

Resigned to the deluge, I continued my peculiar search for the sun.
How could something so big and bright hide from sight?
Had I been able to see, I would have noticed
Many other souls questing for the sun,
But as it was, I was certain of my lonesomeness.

Then there was a moment
When the rain stopped,
The clouds drew away,
And I suddenly saw the beauty and grace
Of the unobscured night sky.
It was then that I learned
That even the darkness
Holds enough light to see by.

It was then that I began to see
The lost souls around me.
Some could see the stars,
But many still walked with hunched shoulders
As if the storm was still raging
And perhaps, for them, it was.

Of those who could see the stars,
There were some who were now content with the night
And others who still yearned for the warm embrace of the sun.
Being curious about the pinpricks of light,
I began to study them.
Had they been there through the rain?
Or had they moved in as the clouds moved out?

Remembering that I had seen a few just before the downpour,
I decided they had always been there.
That was encouraging;
Perhaps the sun was still out there somewhere.
If millions of stars can hide behind clouds,
Then surely the sun has a place to hide.

With that thought, I continued wandering.
When my weary feet began to blister,
I sat down once again.
I thought to myself,
'I'm going about this all wrong'.
Resting a while, my delirious mind began to wander.
What if the sun won't rise until we realize we ARE the sun?
What if we came into the world forgetting our true nature?
And what if, in many cases,
Our souls feel utterly trapped in formidable darkness and ceaseless storms?
With my eyes closed,
I turned inward and allowed the sun to rise in me.

When we are surrounded by storms,
it is easy for us to forget we are like the sun and the stars,
always shining just beyond the intangible, vaporous clouds.

Author's note: the cessation of the rain represents my adoption.