Invitation
“At the turning of the year...” Ann Hills
(https://annehills.com/2014/03/at-the-turning-of-the-year/)
Let’s decide to gather blessings to fill a basket with gratitude
 |
| Joanne |
though it might be easier to lament, replay mistakes,
suffer our own fool (there are other hours for that).
Instead, this day before winter solstice
let’s bring to mind and heart gifts & surprises
some of yours, some of mine
like learning twice – in a cookbook and a song
(with thanks to the cook and the singer)
that there are really six seasons in Vermont
winter, spring, summer, autumn,
and of course, mud.
But new to me, the season of the sticks –
that often grey in between time
when the golden leaves then curled and brown
fall to litter the floor of forest and yard
and the deep snow days
when the evergreens are heavy with wet, white inches of flakes
(how do they weigh so much?)
and the younger hard woods bend under the weight
Like in a dance, with a bow to one another
Did you know there is a name for the lean in between
when the trees in silhouette, naked
allow our eyes to peer through the woods
to see what is often hidden?
A seasonal view of the lake or pond
that the realtor guaranteed was there
but we never really knew ‘til now.
The tiny winter birds flitting from branch to branch
until they land just here outside our window
at the feeder bursting with newly poured seed –
the squirrels haven’t found it yet!
The fields and yards of late-in-the-year
green and brown grasses
and flowerless perennial stalks
taking a breath, enjoying a rest
from the work of spring and summer
at ease, turning inward
like the bears, for a long sleep –
there are other gifts from earlier this year
but for now, let’s rest here too
in whatever gifts and surprises have come our way
in this knowing, in the season of the sticks
for this moment, the day before the longest night
with a basket of gratitude
and a harvest of new knowing.
– 20.12.23 JMG, Vermont
