To the New Year

I don’t have any grand new ideas to share for the entry of this year, only my very personal interests and loves. Over this New Year’s weekend I have been spending a great deal of my time quietly perusing very special spaces on the internet. The following poem explains…

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To the Future

Just as December tips over
Into January,
As the old year
Bows itself out clumsily with the cold,
And the new year greets me
A little too briskly for comfort…
I retreat
Into the labyrinths of my computer,
Pulling flowers up from the depths,
Letting the warmth of spring spill
Through my mind
While garden colours brighten my thoughts
Of the future year.
I study deeply
Of antique irises in blue and purple;
I learn their names, and in my mind
I watch the passing of far years
Through their blooms.
I wander at leisure through the lanes
Of specialists who grow old treasures;
I flick through the many-coloured images
From new gardens and antique catalogs;
And I do my best to envision
The great and lovely blooms
Beneath the brilliant sky
And desert sun, making
A soft ripple upon the shores of summer.
And so I eddy between
This present sudden winter
And a hundred summers of yore.
In my mind I plan
A river of blue to break
Across the heat of future Maytimes.
Thus when this new year is already a bit old
And heat has smouldered into autumn,
I shall gently water my infant river
Of blue irises,
My gift to the future.

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A couple of mornings ago, I looked out to see white on the high mountain tops.

Snow is not frequent here, but recent weather has brought a dusting to the high peaks of the Galiuro Mountains. I love to watch their ever-changing colours, now with a generous layer of white in the upper ranges.

Winter clouds drift low
above desert mountains; snow
brushed each upturned peak.

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But sunset brings out a different set of hues. This scene was just last night.

Sunset Colours

Rose red and
antique gold glow across
vast mountainsides at sunset. Colours
fade in a moment, hushed
to blue dusk.

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Finally, I want to wish each of you my readers a blessed, safe, and very happy new year!