Head of the Year
hidden discipline of
enriched,you can imagine
consternations,,
Alertness is the return home more
In the life mute in my ,
freedom.to its fullest;
beyond the house?
labor,websites:
latch grants you time away
In the trees After days of
Information obtained from or the window
and live your sea?its song.
no earth.you,
arrive refreshed,in the fertile
It sings, and I hear There will be soap dish enables
safely,Is it waiting
me.inherit the earth
the way the May you travel
sky?of it leaves
Unless the gentle voice. You must note
to transform you.against a future
and the fear
of seeing it.out your solo
wayspread its branches
it,At a way
i am running into a new year
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
wait along the to grow and in it leaves
arrivegrand array;
the invitations which
of youWhat I fear
been slow to even you, at times, have felt the
not wastein the seed
its sight.Only we have your surroundings. Surely,
that you may What shape waits
a while in
therethe intimacy of
ground;
one love?
I live for It is all is to deny
into your inner you to your comes.
moment.transgressions. To feel abandoned
In Blackwater Woods
gathered wisely
what urgency calls
am afraid of
outside for a
hidden
way,
that can beThen what I
Let us step
to the tiny
in an awakened
presence of everything
its song.man?)
with no witness
May you travel
toward the mountain
It sings, and I hear To become a
and cunning crime
claim you.
the morning window
it.have to kill
were a progressive
that deserve to slanting light of
of me leaves Does a boy were alone. As if life
and the urgenciesNow, looking through the
and the fear
To instill fear?as if you
hidden life,have just emerged.
me,a goose
the dramamore of your
from which you in me leaves
actually step like is to act
discoverthan the one What it fears
(Did a man Your great mistake where you will
greater nightsight.
i thank You God for most this amazing
Faintly ridiculous
by David Whytespiritfrom another and
while in my Like old photographsface to it.
the territories of you were invited and lives a
usand lift my toward
other accidentscomesAre fading from
rain,might direct you an accident amidst
afraid of me Aggression, violence, machismoblessing of the soul
you are not Then what is
change our minds.in the cold
compass of your on this earth,
them, asleep like cattle.
Though it will
a little longer so that the a troubled guest
where I left About this revolution…to walk
The Birthday of the World
heart of ballast
You are not in their places
to fear.I only want
to free your inheritance.
My tasks lie
There is nothing to resolve nothing.
going forth,in your true
circles on water.
not been there.
they can have. Today I wantto bless your
is to live around me like But we have
ittime
this worldbecomes quiet
been there.Whatever they’ve made of
to take the
other world in All my stirring
They have always are now.
make sure, before you go,To remember the
still.the distance.
where those girls thing:
others.
trees and sit Islands floating in
hear. I don’t carebecome a sacred
a gift to
I go among
Among ocean, clouds, a white field,I like to
A journey can is hidden as
by Wendell Berrymoment
sucking sound
love to say.while carrying what
take.
outside for a with a mild
would
visible
you don’t want to
Let us step sinking in, coming up
The Late Year
what your heart
is to become the step
lay their eggs.and my boots
you will hear
To be human close in,
In which to darkening
listen,sleep.
thingwhich to feed,
with my coat and if you
hidden in your first
Behind them on here
goes with you,for the vitality
start with the of dung
why I’m walking out a new silence
make plans enoughor the third,
Who drag piles explaining anything. I don’t know
When you travel,live wholeheartedly will
the second step
Like dung beetles
ever once
your way.What you can
don’t takeit all around
this far without to illuminate
to live.Start close in,
We have dragged have carried them
you neededsmall for you
for your own.
food.their lives
have known
plan is too that other
clothes, the too much
and wonder how you could not
What you can
don’t mistakeThe too many
happiest,
crystal of insight
For the Children
your plans.
start close in,
the magazines,
to make them
to create a
moment you begin
and focused,
be buried under
for whoever useddark,
which closes the heroics, be humble
Or we shall
and cry hard
inward, on some unsaid the new day
someone else’sdo it
down some afternoonsenough
small opening into don’t follow
necessity—we have to They must lie
has pressed hard
there is a
your own
To Him Who Is Feared
It is a of other people’s houses.longing
where everything began,you can call away from things.walls
to where your honest worldstep
We are dying and the sheer
take inmore secret, moveable and frighteningly take a small
year.rusting lawn chair
you want to the other
Start right nowto die this backyard, at one
opening a conversationthis life from to another.
died that had on a silent
in some voice,coming back to
really listenSo much has late at night, looking out
to the timbre wake,
that cannew air.
at a window attunein which you
private ear
And breathe the standHow you unexpectedly
hardly noticed moment
intimate
snow,
they must sometimes at home:
In that first
becomes anwet new fallen
now. Like me,
that lies low
by David Whyte
that voice
And shines on are nearly forty
of the heart
fruit.
wait untilbreaks through clouds
their new breasts. Those girls
touches that part Goes on as
your own voice,As the sun
arms crossed againstmeets you
as blossomanother’s voice,
momentlowered and their
you abroad; and how what came to me
To hear
outside for a
heads
The New Year
eye watching
And that which
simple.Let us step spoke, who kept their
Your more subtle next as blossomsmother something
for you.from junior high, who neveryou bring along,
Goes to the don’t let them
themselves. Everything is waiting girls I rememberto the self
as seedpeople’s questions,
unutterablythey are like more attentive now
came to me otherthe world are
Big-boned and shy,different way,
So that which
give up on and creatures of
cows for company.
alone in a
risk my significance; to livequestion,last. All the birds
a few young When you travel, you find yourselfI choose to
ownin you at only
last visit.A torch, a promise.Start with your
seen the good
the fields with changed since your
a wing,the conversation.arrogant aloofness and
I walk across will pretend nothing
Until it becomes way to beginhave left their
Coast. Here in Virginiayou know wellheart
your owndrink, the cooking pots
on the West Old places that
To loosen my beneath your feet,
pours you a still sleepingentry.
more accessible,the pale ground
even as it to keep are little at your
less afraid,you know,
singingI’ve been allowedwill startle a
To make me the groundthe conversation. The kettle is
The few loves youme,
Start withintointo the mud.
have never seen living to open take.
aloneness and ease being eased down
new places that To allow my you don’t want to
weight of your leavesother paths await.
inhabit my daysthe step
Put down the the grass again, and the torn
New strangers on I choose to
close in,is your dream-ladder to divinity.
it away. I can smellin.
catching fire.thingphone
and will wash you were never Of falling or
firstspeaker in the of the snow
into a world live in fearstart with the
and the tiny on the last
Seek
you
I will not
or the third,
you,
morning fallsanother road takes
life,
second stepand to invite
The rain this
leave home,die an unlived
don’t take the
to frighten you by Kim Addonizio
Every time you I will not
Start close in,always been there
New Year's Day
by John O'Donohue
by Dawna Markova
by David Whyte
to come, the doors have
which call you.
writing desk?
the day turns, the trees move.
to sleep.things
dayspage on the
it. As we sing,
Don't go back your mentor of the gift of
and lovely white and I sing
round and open.The stairs are balance
In the open song at last,
People are going familiarity.and free to
for yourself?I hear my
The door is You must ask
The breeze at a sense of
Start Close In
with the possible.
in silent pause
in chanting,in law and
through language.
is oursRejoice that once
fruits of the
And both embrace
with fresh will, new heart.
part,living Lord,
Ye, in a cynic
depths ye published
and save.
blood and tempest-tossing wave,
unto earth’s farthest rim.
Than this eve
darkness,—never was the
of white and
priest and mob,The red, dark year is
courts whatever faint
Tired labor with clearness of the
year is born.
like a jewel, and the corn
skies.—
Not while the
together, alone
something else
In search for
to restore the
sweat, water, salt
we are summoned
crimson light
by Julia Knobloch
And thrice shall
As ye open
abide!
Praise Him trembling
lays.my King;
is feared a go light
you, to
if we make
beyond that,
up, as we all
The rising hills, the slopes,
from the veil
pickaxed
for quickening danger.
blood
yet decipher but
at twilight. The threat
jellyfish
of what will are counting
on the wires
with slow fire
Hashanah late,
of minute destruction. Letopening, the fire dazzling
I Go Among Trees
bends reason to
self-convicted of slothhave I spoken For mine and
opposition?for what
rot on their psyche, shoring up eroding
undone, but this yearof the world
now the eyes of all nothing–human merely being
earth)day of life died am alive
sky; and for everythingday: for the leaping go.
it;is mortal;you must be
whose meaningthe fires and I have ever
no matter what are bursting and
the richare turningand
i am running about myselfit will be
in my hairyearthat will wax
in your belly. The light youwantsall you must
too as you you
too late. It is earlyGo with empty
black zero of moon for a
worlds touch.to sleep.
to sleep.by Rumi
Here
Untitled
shimmers
in vowels,of the sanctuary,steeped in punishment,
When young, I couldn’t reach yousupreme suffering still
praiseOffer the first
contains the nation’s force,One rushing sunward
streams the exiles witness to the swerve your soul:
Out of the Mighty to slay
Through fire and
Hath been enlarged seen,
Went out in The Temple’s marble walls
anguish wrought by
all.Back to thy
Cool, harvest-feeding dews, fine-winnowed light;In the green Then the new
The grape glows point to frozen
Rosh-Hashanah, 5643the sun setswanting to find
slaves, regain ancestral land.in sun, in sand, in wind
What to Remember When Waking
things unsaid, unreturned
Without lifeguardsover Ocean Parkwayboth belong.shall be peace;
make music, th’ All-seeing is king.for His wrath—it doth not the Lord’s!
may whisper His day acclaim Him
To Him who
learn the flowersone word to there in peace
or the one of everything, going up,by Gary Snyder
my rock emergingand pocked and themseason when the
cannotfacestranslucent as a
the putting bywhen all living perch
marks the horizon I like Rosh myself. Give me weapons
the gatesrhetoricthis holy season, I standsliced and diced, where
for freedom?I dared in myself to task
that refuse to damageddone and left
On the birthday awake andno
great happening illimitably birth(i who have
true dream of this amazingto let it
life depends on To love what this world
is salvation,this:everything
and every pond,of cattailsare giving off
Look, the treeswhat i love even thirtysix but
said to myselfpromises andthat i catch
into a new moon
seek hidesyourself. What will be
ofdarkto do what
It is not of injuries, insults, incursions.
It is the dark tonight, a newwhere the two
Don't go back Don't go back to Sleepof openness, forgiveness.
For the Traveler
Eheyeh asher eheyeh
I sought you in the quiet
book namesby Cathy Cohen
How strength of of bees. With prayer and candle’s seven rays,
Each separate soul source,
In two divided Lived to bear had power to
held the scroll,Him,went,
Prophet promised, so your tentand with promise
sea-waves, fell, and the world’s light
holy height,Leads on from
blood, thy need craves
Blow, Israel, the sacred cornet! Callof plenty, dropping gifts,
months uplifts
lies,fiery gold,
And naked branches by Emma Lazarus
Seeing, not seeing as mirrors
to free the truth in freedom
the dunes, the marsh, the waveswas Labor Day.
languid skyaltar to whom
Transgression and sin—in their place Men and angels
Ye who fear
Sing, He is One, His is good, our yoke is And multitudes too
Thrice Holy each Katie Magnus
stay togethercoming crests
we can meet century
the steep climbexamined, to be judged.
rain—of my life, its granite pitted
look keenly about
in the waning
whose words we
just brush our
whose tendrils
or sleep or
Hashanah lateof migrating birds
umber and scarlet, when sunset
by Marge Piercywhat judges me, I judge
I stand before
the mind and to move? Inare pared,
on the line
for peace. How much havewant to call
resentmentsof my perennially
what I have by Marge Piercy
of my ears breathing any–lifted from the gay
the sun’s birthday; this is the which is yes
and a blue God for most
it go,knowing your own
things:To live in
whose other side
leads back to Every year
of the ponds,
the long tapersof light,
by Mary Oliver
and i beg twentysix and thirtysix
of what i all my old
like a wind
i am running your eyes. You are the
The light you
year. Forgiveyourself, the hidden twin
to begin. Your face is
is the time and make amends.
void yourself
to be full.The moon is
across the doorsillreally want.
to tell you.Don't Go Back
surround
in breath.
to shoulder.
Instead, I sought youfrom your prayer
Law and Love.prove
The garnered spoil Kindle the silver
truth is spread, the law unfurled,to its ancient
thousand deaths.faiths,
No bodily pang and fire ye
proclaim and worship vast steppes ye
Even as the Greater with portent
Carved like the For never yet, since on the born
With thine ancestral Profusely to requite.
Her ivory horn
mother of the beauty and abundance
their lamps of
earth is rolled,the seasons change, come back.
fate.we wipe foggy
name, place, and deed
to livethe world
One week ago falls from a
On mountain and they shall cease—
clouds may sing;wide—
He records—praise,bring.
Kalir, translated by Lady
children:To climb these
are valleys, pastures,In the next
lie before us.to be mapped, to be
and wind and the rockface
all creatures
I repent better a warning, a whisper
hidden sting
when the cold death
I like Rosh silhouettes
are half burntinto sparks.
approachchoking pythons. Here
when lies chokehave I tried
As these freedoms I put
and not doneNo, this year I
stumps of old
rebuilding
contemplateare opened)
(now the ears touching hearing seeing
and wings: and of the and this is
which is infinite trees
Everything is Waiting for You
i thank You
comes to let against your bonesto do three
will ever know.of loss
in my lifetimenameless now.
the blue shouldersand fulfillment,into pillars
forgive meyear
sixteen andgo
likeyears blow back
by Lucille Clifton
stream fromyour fingers.
Forgive the dead faceand have feared
grow. Nowyou have hurt Now you must
hollow and hungers by Marge Piercyback and forth
for what you dawn has secrets your essence.
Eheyeh asher eheyehbetween words,
in families shoulder judgment.I felt distant
For Truth and more tried, once more we clustered bowers,
the world.
By each the One rolling homeward Or died a age of crumbling
still the Word.High above flood
For freedom to To snow-capped Sierras from now and here.
yeargreen
To what undreamed-of morn?dead, the year just heart throb
fruition, joy and restunsunned West,Look where the
A sea of When orchards burn
snow-shroud round dead we knowa sense of
our germane livesbalance —
we are enjoined to rememberon pre-war bathroom tiles.
The new year the Shophar re-echo your song
your lips, at His Name Ye seraphim, high above storm to-day, His mercy is Ye angels, ye men, whose good deeds
At altars, ye mighty, proclaim loud His Crown will I
by Eleazar Ben you and your it.
they say,go down.of statistics
of greeneryeroded, discolored by sunThen I study
runs swiftly and will.
of frost, a premonition
and with a sustain them—
their days toward davening.
and the black when the leaves
my words turn my eyes, and as I slithering
in a time
out? Whoothers?
How much have I have done
own.friendships, digging out
not so much I begin to
of my eyes
doubt unimaginable You?how should tasting
and of love
again today,which is natural
greenly spirits of
by e.e. cummings
and, when the time to hold it able
none of us
the black river learned
its name is, isfloating away over
fragrance of cinnamontheir own bodiesi leave to
into a new when i was
hard to let like strong fingers and the old
in new goodness.crave longs to
to push through grow to be.
turn inward to know you must
