Lesson for the New Year

 

Once I  locked myself

in a broken-down blue refrigerator we had stored in the cellar:

clasp hinges rust-crusted,

wobbly ineffectual handle, chrome on blue enamel.

I crowded myself

between tiny tin icebox and tiny crisper

after taking out both tiny shelves

and stacking them neatly against the fridge’s empty back,

and I slammed the door shut on me

by shoving it open hard

so that it bounced back, sealed,

when it hit its hinge-limit.

Then it had nothing in it but me and dead air

and I played by myself in the dark with its echoes

till my backside started to ache

and, trying to move,

I realized there was no getting out.

Then I quit singing and pretending to hide.

When I shoved on the door in my panic

one of the hinges broke;

though the latch was still caught

one corner of the door hung apart

and I put my mouth to the hole

and yelled for my mother till I was hoarse.

So I didn’t suffocate after all.

How foolish we are—

we, playing in the dark—

to think there are two second chances.

By Julie Juchau, Ensign, Jan. 1975, inside front cover

Awash

I have the grace of a wave—

I’m constantly tumbling over myself

Dotty Drake

Himno Cotidiano (A Daily Hymn) Gabriela Mistral

On this new day                                     

Thou givest me,

Oh Lord                  

Give me my portion of happiness               

And help me to improve.

Give me the gifts of health,              

faith, ardour and audacity;                

the companions of youth;                          

and the harvest of truth,           

reflection and wisdom;                        

the companions of old age.

Happy am I, if at the end of the day,       

I carry with me one enmity less.           

If my steps are guided by one light more,

and I have overcome one more error in my ways.

And if, for my rudeness,                                

no one has shed a tear,                                   

and if, someone was happy          

because of a kindness I showed them.

(segment) by Gabriela Mistral,  Chilean poet.

(my translation)

En este nuevo día
que me concedes, ¡oh, Señor!
dame mi parte de alegría
y haz que consiga ser mejor.

Dame tú el don de la salud,
la fe, el ardor, la intrepidez,
séquito de la juventud;
y la cosecha de verdad,
la reflexión, la sensatez,
séquito de la ancianidad.

Dichoso yo, si al fin del día,
un odio menos llevo en mí;
si una luz más mis pasos guía
y si un error más yo extinguí.

Y si por la rudeza mía
nadie sus lágrimas vertió,
y si alguien tuvo la alegría
que mi ternura le ofreció.

(segmento) por Gabriela Mistral, poeta chilena

It ought to plain

How little you gain

By getting excited and vexed

You’ll always be late

For the previous train

And always in time for the next

My Gift

What can I give him

Poor as I am;

If I were a shepherd,

I would give Him a lamb.

If I were a wise man

I would do my part.

But what can I give Him

I  will give Him my heart

Christina Rossetti

The Meaning of Christmas

Christmas, like the Bible,

Means varied things to man—

To some a reawakening

Of God’s momentous plan.

To some a day of gladness,

A special time and place,

To give a gift, to greet a friend

Or wear a smiling face

But some there are, who seem to me,

Forever set apart;

Who through the years serenely walk

With Christmas in their heart

Evelyn R. Liddell

Extracts From "Journey of the Magi"

"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter."
.....
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
....
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.
....
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
....
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

.....All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different;

....

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
T.S.Eliot

painting "The Magi" by James Tissot, 1894