Wednesday 1 January 2014

Day 530: To the New Year 2014

 
I posted this poem last year on New Year's Day but am posting it again today for all my new 
readers, and also because I am very fond of it it for how it captures that euphoric sense of optimism 
we all carry at the turning of the new calendar year.
 
Just look at the second stanza, everything in it moving toward the word and the sentiment 'possible'. 
Here we are, starting a New Year, with our hopes, whatever they are, whoever we are, whatever we 
want,  before us, and everything 'still possible' for us - this feeling not for one day only, but  
ongoing, as the lack of punctuation most potently suggests.

Happy New Year to you all!

 
To the New Year - WS Mervin
 
With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

I'd love to hear what you think! To leave a comment - comment as/sign in with your Google ID if you have one, or website or blog address, or if these don't apply, sign in as Anonymous, and leave your name if you like!