I’ve been offline for most of the past ten days. It’s been a difficult time for my family, with two deaths bracketing the end-of-year holidays, and traveling for my grandmother’s funeral.
I’m back in town, and back at my desk, so posting will resume on January 9, 2018.
Thank you for your patience during the hiatus.
My nephew Darin‘s funeral is today. This is a poem we always read at family funerals. Rest in peace, my dear.
Death Is A Door
~ Nancy Byrd Turner
Death is only an old door
Set in a garden wall;
On gentle hinges it gives, at dusk
When the thrushes call.
Along the lintel are green leaves,
Beyond the light lies still;
Very willing and weary feet
Go over that sill.
There is nothing to trouble any heart;
Nothing to hurt at all.
Death is only a quiet door
In an old wall.
from “Evergreen”
~ Julia Hartwig
Stay forever green tree of joyful existence
tree rooted in the sky
and tree drawing its sap from the earth
tree of illusion and tree of dream
…
stay with us and teach us endurance
royal from childhood on
eternally green
and eternally alive
Evergreen
While I don’t celebrate Christmas Day as a religious holiday, I have many pleasant memories from my childhood associated with the day. Today’s poem is my favorite Christmas carol, and my favorite version, performed by the Mediaeval Baebes.
The song has an interesting history, if you are so inclined to read it.
I particularly enjoy the mix of languages, often changing mid-sentence; it feels very real and human to me, and conveys both the idea of a shared experience and the ineffability of that experience, which cannot be captured in human words.
Whatever you are doing today, I hope you have some time to relax and to share joy with loved ones.
Christmas Light
~ May Sarton
When everyone had gone
I sat in the library
With the small silent tree,
She and I alone.
How softly she shone!
And for the first time then
For the first time this year,
I felt reborn again,
I knew love’s presence near.
Love distant, love detached
And strangely without weight,
Was with me in the night
When everyone had gone
And the garland of pure light
Stayed on, stayed on.
Small tree with white lightsOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
