weeks.org - Full Moon at 41

LATE FRAGMENT

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

--Raymond Carver
from A New Path To The Waterfall

Full Moon at 41

On a birthday when the days are short
And the sun is elsewhere giving warmth
I wondered what might best be done
To wish you light for 41

So I asked the silence for its help
Some guidance as I wish you well

How Gracious of Life
To schedule this light
And allow me to share it
On the threshold tonight
While so many pine for the past like worn pages
Your new decade starts with the lamp of all ages

This day was a new moon the year we would meet
The dark had some wonderful secrets to keep
Maybe this year is lit for the path we now see
But which spirals ahead into new mysteries:

To encourage the faith that has led to this mark
To comfort our hearts in the winter and dark
To remind us that beauty and grace remain timeless
And created by Love, for a culture that’s frightened

Of getting too old to be scared anymore
Of missing the mark of the suburban norm
Of painting their picture outside of the lines
Of loving themselves well enough to be kind
Of losing the comforts that keep them afraid
Of trusting the mystery by which they were made
Of growing old thanking each birthday for life
Of thanking the light for its glory at night

Happy 41st birthday, Janie, in this dawn of 2001
May you grow in wisdom and love with the softness of the earth herself.

I love you

Copyright 1978 - 2024 by Randy Weeks
(This old site has been online since 1995... I'll redo it eventually, maybe...
Meanwhile, consider it a museum piece from the early web). :)

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