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Dec. 20th, 2003 02:21 pmSleepy Hollow has the best holiday show. Yesterday, while walking down Bleecker St., I saw a woman, probably in her forties, well dressed and handsome. She caught my eye because she was singing as she walked down the street - "The Little Drummer Boy" in a rich, well trained contralto. Just because she felt like it, it seemed. I could have listened to her for hours.
We've crossed the finish line, finally. Everything we had to do is complete. We've learned a good bit about how to manage things for next year. I see so many people talking about the cardboard sentimentality of these days, and while I do see a lot of that myself, I'm fairly adept at letting my eyes pass it by, devoting my attention to where I find the heart of things. Still, in times when one is struggling in the salmon run that is Macy's in NYC, the idea to try a little harder, polish that up a bit so it shines a little brighter among all the flashy lights shows itself to be a good one.
Looking back over the year...Here at home it's been building a good, strong home on the foundation we already have, and I can honestly say that it only gets better. Thinking over it, in most ways it's been building a good home atop foundations in place, with my study, practices, crafts, and most importantly and surprisingly, friendships. Of course, as anyone who has been reading this for the past year can say, it hasn't always been easy, or pleasant. Some friendships have crumbled to dust, some memories have battered at my mind with cold, hard hands, some old patterns played themselves out in measured steps.
Those don't really matter though, do they? The only things they leave behind are actually the very things that sustain me. On this, the brief light before the longest night of the year, that's important to know. So, in honor of the coming long night, I offer you this.
I salute you! There is nothing I can give you
which you have not; but here is much, that,
while I cannot give, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts
find rest in it today. Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not
hidden in this present instant. Take Peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow;
behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy.
Take Joy.
And so, at this holy time, I greet you,
with the prayer that for you, now and forever,
the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
--Fra Giovanni,1513
We've crossed the finish line, finally. Everything we had to do is complete. We've learned a good bit about how to manage things for next year. I see so many people talking about the cardboard sentimentality of these days, and while I do see a lot of that myself, I'm fairly adept at letting my eyes pass it by, devoting my attention to where I find the heart of things. Still, in times when one is struggling in the salmon run that is Macy's in NYC, the idea to try a little harder, polish that up a bit so it shines a little brighter among all the flashy lights shows itself to be a good one.
Looking back over the year...Here at home it's been building a good, strong home on the foundation we already have, and I can honestly say that it only gets better. Thinking over it, in most ways it's been building a good home atop foundations in place, with my study, practices, crafts, and most importantly and surprisingly, friendships. Of course, as anyone who has been reading this for the past year can say, it hasn't always been easy, or pleasant. Some friendships have crumbled to dust, some memories have battered at my mind with cold, hard hands, some old patterns played themselves out in measured steps.
Those don't really matter though, do they? The only things they leave behind are actually the very things that sustain me. On this, the brief light before the longest night of the year, that's important to know. So, in honor of the coming long night, I offer you this.
I salute you! There is nothing I can give you
which you have not; but here is much, that,
while I cannot give, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts
find rest in it today. Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not
hidden in this present instant. Take Peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow;
behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy.
Take Joy.
And so, at this holy time, I greet you,
with the prayer that for you, now and forever,
the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
--Fra Giovanni,1513
