Dec. 31, 2010--Jan 1, 2011
I am never quite certain at just what moment the old year slides into the new year and most of us probably don't feel all that different as the bells begin to ring out the old, ring in the new. There are some who go into the new year a little more intoxicated perhaps. And so I pray, as I sit in my writing room at my west window beholding the short, though lovely, display of fireworks that has just flashed across my sky--yours too. I pray that you will be intoxicated with life this year, inebriated with the spirit of joy and open to transformation.
I also say good-bye to 2010. I carry into the new year the joyful and sorrowful moments of the old year. I say good-bye (meaning God-be-with-you) in an all embracing way, in the manner you say good-bye to something or someone you once loved and will forever carry in your heart in some mysterious, inexplicable way, Namomi Shihab Nye's poem ADIOS seems the perfect way to say GoodBye so here it is. Eat the words and be grateful.
ADIOS by Namomi Shihab Nye
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It is a good word, rolling off the tongue
no matter what language you were born with,
Use it, Learn where it begins,
the smallest alphabet of departure,
how long it takes to think of it,
then say it, then be heard.
Marry it. More than any golden ring,
it shines, it shines.
Wear it on every finger till your hands dance,
touching everything easily
letting everything, easily go.
Strap it to your back like wings.
Or a kite-tail. The stream of air behind a jet.
If you are known for anything,
let it be the way you rise out of sight
when your work is finished.
Think of things that linger: leaves
cartons and napkis, the damp smell of mold.
Think of things that disappear.
Think of what you love best,
what brings tears to your eyes.
Something that said "adios" to you
before you knew what it meant
or how long it was for.
Explain little, the word explains itself.
Later perhaps. Lessons following lessons,
like silence following sound.
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So there! Our work is finished for this year. We let it go. We wave good-by even to the blessings we have missed. They will come around again. Open your eyes. It is going to be a very good year.
Repeat after me!
It is going to be a luminous year!
ADIOS! 2010
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Hola 2011
