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Friday, January 2, 2015

POETRY FRIDAY

Sunrise by fire0002/flagstaffotos.com.au, on Wikimedia Commons
I was really glad, on Wednesday night, to say goodbye to 2014. It was a hard, hard year.  In February, my eighty-year-old mom  had brain surgery, unexpectedly, and had to move into assisted living. She's always been strong and independent, a go-er and a do-er, a giver to others, and the move has been really, really hard for her, and hard for me to watch. Both my sons are really struggling right now, and that's super hard as well.

I decided, then, that my word for 2015 will be hope. Ultimately, my hope is in Christ, and the promise of a life to come. Here on earth, I'm hoping for His perspective-- that all things will work together for good, that He knows the plans He has for me and for my sons, and for my mom, and that He will give me the gifts of peace and joy and wisdom and perspective that I need to deal with everything that is going on right now.

I googled "poems of hope" and came across a new-to-me Langston Hughes poem. Given that I am a total morning person, it seemed especially appropriate to start this new year.

"Walkers with the Dawn"

 Being walkers with the dawn and morning
Walkers with the sun and morning,
We are not afraid of night,
Nor days of gloom,
Nor darkness--
Being walkers with the sun and morning.
Langston Hughes

 Enjoy more great poetry at THE MISS RUMPHIUS EFFECT!
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7 comments:

  1. Linda BJanuary 2, 2015 at 9:22 AM

    I'm glad you found a poem just for you, Carol, & it is beautiful. Your OLW is good, too, so positive to greet the year.

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  2. RamonaJanuary 2, 2015 at 10:58 AM

    Carol, I'm a morning person and the Langston Hughes poem is new for me, too. Someday when we meet, we'll take an early morning walk. Hope is such a wonderful word... I used it in the haiku I wrote on Dec. 12. Hoping for the gifts you seek to deal with your current challenges.

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  3. TaraJanuary 2, 2015 at 8:57 PM

    Here's to a brighter 2015, Carol. And here's to all of us "Being walkers with the sun and morning."

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  4. Mary LeeJanuary 3, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    I relish our early morning email "walks." Hope life is LIGHTening up on you a bit...

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  5. Heidi MordhorstJanuary 5, 2015 at 3:28 AM

    Carol, I realize I missed this post over the weekend. As I have noted all over Poetry Friday, 2014 was not a lot of people's favorite year, and you've had it hard. Your OLW is already almost a guarantee that 2015 will be easier--it shows your attitude, and with Langston and each new morning to help you along, "how can you keep/from singing?"

    Thanks for your willingness to read for me!

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  6. Robyn Hood BlackJanuary 5, 2015 at 8:34 AM

    I'm a bit late to the party, but thank you for sharing, Carol. I didn't realize how glad I was to say goodbye to 2014 until we were sitting down to a meal New Year's Eve. I didn't know this Langston Hughes poem either - beautiful.

    You might know it, but as a young girl in the garden of an art center, I came across this anonymous quote etched into stone, and it's been etched into me ever since:

    "I stood at the gate of life and said, Give me a light that I may go safely into the unknown, and a voice replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That will be to you better than a light and safer than a known way."

    Wishing you and yours light and love in 2015...

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  7. GatheringBooksJanuary 7, 2015 at 3:54 PM

    There is something so deceptively simple about Langston Hughes' poetry yet it is just so powerful in its barest essence. I hope things get better for you and the family dear Carol. Hope is a lovely choice.

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