Year end singing

 

Sometimes it can guess what was, only from what’s left.

The rivers need no meddling with to course correct.

I watch the wakes of boats and, though I am afraid

the differences of skies and rivers progressively fade.

 

The year flits by without a word on how to cope,

the highs are high but the lows are fathomless in scope,

still the waters hold the blue and its light reflect,

the river needs no meddling with to course correct.  

 

I tally the sums of what I got and what I gave

count the wakes of the boats, and count the leaves and waves

in the end no measures quite define the intercepts

the river brooks no meddling with to course correct.

 

On my fingers are smeared the remnants of the past

some leaves of melancholy, joys that do not last

words that run off the page, rhymes that aren’t perfect

but they need no meddling with to course correct.

 

I sing not for heights achieved but more to endure,

take stumbling in my stride, go where the footing’s unsure

the river flows heedless to the paths that I select,

and it brooks no meddling with to course correct.

 

I sing for that one small step taken towards justice,

for the unseen courage that’s so easy to miss.  

Like the river ignores all attempts to deflect

quietly brooks no meddling with to course correct.

 

I’d rather talk of the common, ordinary and plain,

the songless birds, scentless blooms, the coarser woodgrains,

the river takes no notice of the boats nor subjects

and it needs no meddling with to course correct.

 

Come with me to the banks where fallen leaves lie thick

the winter light spins the waves into silver magic

the trees dance naked as they wait, lines of spiky shade

and differences of skies and waters progressively fade.

Happy New Year 2024 to all who stop by, from Raleigh, NC. Wishing for a gentler, more peaceful and stress free year for everyone. I'm getting back to the old hometown a couple weeks into the year and hopefully I'll get right back into couch potato mode pronto. See you soon.