9 January 2022

By Philip Kuepper

Oars of hope and joy
for rowing
the shells of our bodies,
slip us out
into the stream of days,

oars of hope and joy
allowing us row
the stream of enchantments
that flows just beneath
the skin of the visible,

the visible that comes at us
at the speed of sound;
oars of hope and joy that row us
through the despair and the sorrow
that also make up the circle

of time given us, and taken from us,
simultaneously.
We row, and are held
at the still center of ourselves,
simultaneously.

In the stream of days
our bodies are the clocks,
our oars the hour
and the second hands,
that row us ever forward,

that are rowing us, this very second,
into the new
year of days,
given us and taken from us,
simultaneously.

It is for us
to celebrate each minute.

(1 January 2022)