Wednesday, January 07, 2009

New Year 2009

I have been trying to put my feelings and thoughts at the New Year into words -- a harder task than sometimes. Last night our son called to say that he was okay after the accident (wiped on on I-79 on icy roads), and again I realized that all of the good that we experience can change in the briefest of moments. The past semester in my teaching was filled with stress, and I realize that I do not enjoy change the way that I once did. So the words below: an effort to grasp some security within the constant change of life.

New Year 2009

We had a dachshund, loyal, loving;
I remember too clearly
A warm summer day,
The dog seemed more weary
Than usual. Dogs die.

Deep roots diving deep into the earth.
I had friends when I was young;
we went to school together,
Talked, played, ran, and sang;
the bond we shared was real and strong.
Now years and miles between.

He held his blanket, grasped it tight
As it hung on the line to dry.
Life was real and life was right
When he had wrapped it so;
It answered his possessive cry
And calmed the ebb and flow.

At midnight we circled round the game
Our glasses lifted in a toast;
The past poured out, an empty night
A day begun, shaken roots still holding.

I need my friend, my dog, my love
(I have not even tried to speak of her),
Comfort and strength to grasp what's now, what's new.

6 January 2009

7 comments:

Denise said...

Accident? How well we know how quickly life can change - in the blink of an eye - how well we know. Very glad he is okay, to say the least.

KGMom said...

OKAY--please fill me in on details in an email.
This is too cryptic (which somehow makes it very scary).
Love
Donna

Climenheise said...

Cryptic? Well maybe. I used email, but here are some explanations more generally.

The dog was the dachshund we had just before we moved to Canada. The boy and the blanket was our younger son -- an image of security in my mind analogous to Linus in Peanuts. Our older son spun out on I-79 last Tuesday: no injury and minor damage to the car. Maybe sometime he will tell the story. I suppose we all need to slide on the ice once in our lives.

The real trigger for the reflection is my own awareness that I feel uneasy with change more than I used to.

KGMom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KGMom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KGMom said...

In no way am I picking on you with this comment--so you finally have arrived at an age where change is not necessarily a friend.
My being settled in central PA for lo these many years is my own response to change.
I find myself quite happy to be where I am, handling inevitable changes but not seeking them out.

KGMom said...

Sorry about the comment removals--silly Blogger published my ONE comment THREE times.
While I may repeat myself at my age, I usually do not do so 3 times right in a row.