January

Every day is the first day
of a new year
Every time I begin again
time begins again—

Every time I open my eyes again
and see what I have not seen before,
Every time I leave a door ajar
and watch my soul come in,

Every time I open my heart
to all that is, to everyone,
It is the morning of a glad new day,
(and Yom Kippur and Ramadan, too).

Every titmouse I see
outside my window,
Every pine sapling sprouting
out of an old stump,

Every geode that’s cracked
by the path I walk,
Every sunset that draws me
farther and farther west,

Every song I sing,
every prayer I pray,
Of another new year,
is a blest first day.

 

bfn (my dad)