Friday, December 6, 2019

Poetry Friday: Gratitude

Our challenge this busy season was to write a poem on the theme of gratitude.  I am grateful, every December, for moments of stillness, so I wrote my poem about that.







December

is bustle
and jingle
and jolly.
Decking. 
Beckoning.
Noise pricking
like holly. 

But I am 
Oh, little town!
How still, 
how still.
I crave dark. 
Dreamless.
Wordless 
good will. 

So when
I steal,
in the black 
morning,
barefoot,
to the mute
dawning

Of each
newly-dressed
day, this—
this light
before light,
this breadth

of time 
before time 
must peal 
forth, again—
this moment 
I kneel

to the nothing
we are called
from---
From this 
is all 
the world
to come. 

----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)


Links to my fellow poets (as I have them at the moment) are here:

Laura
Tricia

more to come!


Poetry Friday is hosted by our own Tanita Davis.  


10 comments:

  1. Oh Sara, this is breathtaking. And profound. I could swim in it for days--thank you for this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sara: I love this poem. I also am much more O Little Town, drawn to the dark and quiet. Thank you for this. I am keeping a copy, if you don't mind. I need to think on it more... Please visit me at
    https://kceastlund.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-crazy-thing-just-before-christmas.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. I laugh that you said that I inspired you, Sara. Maybe the fact that I got a blog post up, yeah, but NOTHING of mine was the soil from this -- the brilliance, as usual, is all you. And WOW, this is rich and just gorgeous. Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sara, your poem is extraordinary. I love the reference to the familiar Christmas carol in the second stanza. So many phrases I love here: "Of each newly-dressed day", "this breadth of time before time must peal forth, again—", and "I kneel to the nothing we are called from---'. For me,the poem calls me past the trappings of our holidays to remember we came from something void of everything but Love. And that Love is all the power we need to create tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh Sara, I needed this poem today. Like Karen, I'm saving a copy to return to. I might even print out a copy to put up as a reminder. Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dawn is one of my favorite times in the day. If not the favorite.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is beautiful. It brings such peace in the midst of this busy, noisy season.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, my. Such a good capture of the overwhelming tone of the season put on hold for a moment of truth and beauty. This is a gem. Thank you for sharing -- especially fresh dressed day. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Reading this poem from the very moment it describes --
    "the mute
    dawning

    Of each
    newly-dressed
    day, this—
    this light
    before light,"
    ...magical...reverent.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love "each newly-dressed day." Perfect words for December mornings.

    ReplyDelete

R-E-S-P-E-C-T (or you will be deleted)

You can receive followup comments to this conversation by checking the "notify me" box below the comment window.