Year's End

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that we are a people of thresholds. We organize our lives into days, weeks, months, years, and we mark the beginning and end of each unit of time with rituals, many of which we no longer even acknowledge. Do you have a morning routine? Do you read the news first thing? Or do you prefer to take a moment to pray when you wake? Do you pause at noon for a quick meal, or do you leave your office and set out for a walk during lunch? In the evening do you like to relax with a good movie and a glass of wine? Or are you more inclined to watch the news? If you have young children do you like to read to them before bed? These routines help us to organize our lives. The whole concept of time seems meant to do that, leading us from one threshold to another; from the end of one period to the beginning of the next.

Late December seems particularly a time for marking time’s passage. The whole month is a threshold, when we leave one year behind and step over into the next. It gives us a chance to look back and also forward. Oddly, it is the month of January that is named for Janus, the Roman god who is depicted as having two faces, looking both into the past and into the future.

Statue of Janus from the Vatican Museums, from Wikipedia

But for us, here in current Western culture, the time for looking backward and forward is late December. And for me, it is a time of un-doing. Un-decorating, leaving surfaces bare, lit only by a single candle. Uncluttering the calendar, leaving space to do whatever comes to mind at the moment.

It has become my tradition for my final essay of the year to share a poem I wrote many years ago that reflects this threshold from one year to another; from a time of joyful bustle, to a time of quiet contemplation; from a time that has been lived and known, to a time that awaits as mystery.

I thank each of you for the time you have taken this year to read these essays. I wish you joy as we cross this threshold into the unknown year together. May the crossing be safe, and may you find peace in the year ahead.

Denise

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A New Year

Mantle stripped of angels and holly,

A lone, carved moose sits above the crackling fire.

On the bare wood table a single candle flickers.

Eyes cleared of glitz and glitter gaze outward, where

Above the white world Venus rises,

Sailing above the moon’s slim crescent

Against the infinitely black sky.

A new year.