A New Year’s Prayer Poem
“I want to make a New Year’s prayer, not a resolution.~Susan Sontag
I wish to live in hope.
Not glib hope, not hope without foundation.
A grounded hope for our environment,
our government,
our democracy,
our families,
our communities,
our hearts.
I hope for love, big fat strong obnoxious love.
Love with no limits.
Messy love. Damn hard love. Tear-stained love.
I wish to have courage.
Courage to not fall into despair.
The bravery needed to walk into the broken world with kindness.
The courage to hang on, even when the tenuous bonds are breaking.
Courage to fail, to not be perfect or even good.
To brave the unknown with conviction, with audacity, with wonder.
I wish to forgive.
To let go of past pain.
To see others as fellow walkers of this earth.
To let go of judgments, of old stories.
I wish to forgive myself. To be gentle of mistakes made.
To know I am human.
I wish to listen, really listen, to those whose hearts I hold.
To try not to fix, just sit with their pain.
To close my mouth when I feel a louder comparison story bubbling within me.
To say, “I know,” and really mean it.
I wish to learn,
through trips to libraries
visits to museums
hikes among trees
travels to mountains
glimpses of wild birds.
I wish to never stop learning.
I wish to devour books, to drive to undetermined destinations,
to get lost, to be found.
I hold these prayers, these wishes, these words, and then release them to the ether.
I wish them to float among the stars,
to embrace humanity with such a fierceness
that is love.
