A new beginning, a new year...

What better time than the new year to march onwards with resolutions? That some of them - most, actually - will be cast by the wayside goes without a doubt! Nevertheless, it prompts one to reflect on how much like life such an exercise is...to try on what is new and to retain only that which fits during that specific year. A marriage of true minds, as it were ;), albeit a temporary one, that "alters when it alteration finds", and "bends with the remover to remove", between a person and a thought. Yet someone, I believe, said that resolutions are "meant to be broken". And then again, what of emotions, of the will? Isn't a marriage a resolution as well? A sacred one, at that.

But let us keep the spirit light-hearted, and resolve to remain true to ourselves and to our loves, human and non-human! I pray the new year brings you all happiness, good health, inner strength, and good sense - a gift from the heart that can't be bought.

Here is a poem on love, on this happy occasion:

Autumnal Song

Apples have been picked,

The pumpkins sold.

Trees have shed their leaves,

Straw knotted, rolled.

The land once molten gold,

Now lay dark, spent.

Swallows have flown with song,

Branches relent.

With tines borne upwards, mute,

The earth beckoned.

And sought that a cloud its

Prayer hastened.

“May this Winter be calm,

Friendly, forthright.

And may we sleep warm, loved,

All through the night.

May the days never be

Too dark, or grim.

May the harvest feed all,

Our kith and kin.”

Head bowed, resolute, hands

Bound, sitting still,

The earth forlorn, gathered

Its fragile will.

Just then, the sky turned, and

Smiled, warm, bright.

Eyes twinkling, a fond heart,

Gentle, a kind light. 

Gazing deep, the sky said,

Brilliant blue,

“Don’t fret, my love, I give

Myself to you.”