A long year given to us

And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us,
    new, untouched, full of things that have never been,
        full of work that has never been done,
            full of tasks, claims, and demands; 

and let us see that we learn to take it
    without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow
        upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.

                                        Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters

 

 

 

 

Joy and gratitude

In whatever sense this year is a new year for you,
may the moment find you eager and unafraid,
ready to take it by the hand with joy and gratitude.

        Howard Thurman, The Mood of Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Amoretti LXII

The weary yeare his race now having run,
The new begins his compast course anew:
With shew of morning mylde he hath begun,
Betokening peace and plenty to ensew.
So let us, which this chaunge of weather vew,
Chaunge eeke our mynds and former lives amend,
The old yeares sinnes forepast let us eschew,
And fly the faults with which we did offend.
Then shall the new yeares joy forth freshly send,
Into the glooming world his gladsome ray:
And all these stormes which now his beauty blend,
Shall turne to caulmes and tymely cleare away.
So likewise love cheare you your heavy spright,
And chaunge old yeares annoy to new delight.

                        Edmund Spenser

What happens next

I wanted a perfect ending.

Now I've learned, the hard way,
    that some poems don't rhyme,
        and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Life is about not knowing,
    having to change,
        taking the moment and making the best of it,
            without knowing what's going to happen next.

Delicious ambiguity.
     
                            Gilda Radner, It's Always Something