"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” - Benjamin Franklin



“Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to.” - Bill Vaughn

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To Be Crocus-Minded

It takes courage
to be crocus-minded.
I'd rather wait until June,
Like wise roses,
When the hazards of winter are safely behind,
and I'm expected,
and everything's ready for roses.

But crocuses?
Highly irregular.
Knifing through hard-frozen ground and snow,
sticking their necks out,
because they believe in spring
and have something personal
and emphatic to say about it.

I am by nature rose-minded.
Even when I have studied the situation here
and know there are wrongs that need righting,
affirmations that need stating,
and know also that my speaking out may offend...
for it rocks the boat...
well, I'd rather wait until June.
Maybe later things will work themselves out,
and we won't have to make an issue of it.

Forgive.
Wrongs don't work themselves out.
Injustices and inequities and hurts don't just dissolve.
Somebody has to stick their neck out,
somebody who cares enough
to think through
and work through hard ground,
because they believe
and have something personal
and emphatic to say about it.

Me? Crocus-minded?
Could it be that there are things that need to be said,
and we should be saying them?
I pray for courage.
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Amen
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May 2007 bring joy, wonderment, excitement, laughter and friendship to all of you. Life is what we make it.

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PEACE.

Posted by Evydense on Monday, January 01, 2007 at 11:02 a.m. | Permalink