November ends today. Many folks that I know look at this time with some trepidation. A time of more darkness that may lead to dark thoughts and sadness. But, for me it is a time of more reflection....I seem to "see" better in the dark. It is a time to gaze at stars and wonder. This last day of November coincides with the end of deer hunting season here in Maine. So it also means I can wear cute hats again and Runa can be free of her super hero vest!
The Regret
When cold November sits among the reeds like an unlucky fisher
And ducks drum up as sudden as the wind
Out of the rushy river,
We slowly come, robbed of our rod and gun,
Walking amid the stricken cages of the trees.
The stormy weeks have all gone home like drunken hunters,
Leaving the gates of the grey world wide open to December.
But now there is no speech of branches in these broken jails.
Acorn lie over the earth, no less neglected
Than our unrecognizable regret:
And here we stand as senseless as the oaks
As dumb as elms.
And though we seem as grave as jailers, yet we did not come to wonder
Who picked the lock of the past days, and stole our summer.
(We are no longer listeners for curious saws, and secret keys!)
We are indifferent to seasons,
And stand like hills, deaf.
And never hear the last of the escaping year
Go ducking through the bended branches like a leaf.
Thomas Merton ~Selected Poems of Thomas Merton pg 8
darkness
oh the darkness
oh the darkness
of the wood
no light
no light at all
comes through
the trees
when will the light
come stealing,
when will the light
come stealing,
when will the light
come stealing,
through the forest?
darkness
the the darkness
of the woods
no light
no light at all
comes through
the trees.
Robert Lax ~Robert Lax Poems (1962-1997) pg 6
Robert Lax
11-30-1915 ~ 9-26-2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lax
Happy Birthday! Bob!!!
