First, I want to thank everyone for your kind words and thoughts after the loss of my dog, Holly. They made a difficult time just a bit easier. I am very grateful to all of you.
I want to end 2008 by sharing with you part of a poem I love. This is the first part of "Meditations on the Fall and Winter Holidays" by Charles Reznikoff. For me, this poem speaks to our ability to find hope and reasons to be grateful in the face of the difficulty in just being human.
Happy New Year to all!
"Meditations on the Fall and Winter Holidays"
1
New Year's
The solid houses in the mist
are thin as tissue paper;
the water laps slowly at the rocks;
and the ducks from the north are here
at rest on the grey ripples.
The company in which we went
so free of care, so carelessly,
has scattered. Good-bye,
to you who lie behind in graves,
to you who galloped proudly off!
Pockets and heart are empty.
This is the autumn and our harvest--
such as it is, such as it is--
the beginnings of the end, bare trees and barren ground;
but for us only the beginning:
let the wild goat's horn and the silver trumpet sound!
Reason upon reason
to be thankful:
for the fruit of the earth,
for the fruit of the tree,
for the light of the fire,
and to have come to this season.
The work of our hearts is dust
to be blown about in the winds
by the God of our dead in the dust
but our Lord delighting in life
(let the wild goat's horn
and the silver trumpet sound!)
our God Who imprisons in coffin and grave
and unbinds the bound.
You have loved us greatly and given us
Your laws
for an inheritance,
Your sabbaths, holidays, and seasons of gladness,
distinguishing Israel
from other nations--
distinguishing us
above the shoals of men.
And yet why should we be remembered--
if at all--only for peace, if grief
is also for all? Our hopes,
if they blossom, if they blossom at all, the petals
and fruit fall.
You have given us the strength
to serve You,
but we may serve or not
as we please;
not for peace nor for prosperity,
not even for length of life, have we merited
remembrance; remember us
as the servants
You have inherited.
"Winter Scene with Ice Skaters and Birds" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
In the darkest days of the year, these folks are finding their way to a little joy.
