To the Marrow

"Tomorrow in the offices the year on the stamps will be altered;
Tomorrow new diaries consulted, new calendars stand;
With such small adjustments life will again move forward
Implicating us all; and the voice of the living be heard:
"It is to us that you should turn your straying attention;
Us who need you, and are affected by your fortune;
Us you should love and to whom you should give your word."
~ Philip Larkin (1922–1986), British poet. "New Year Poem."

The pulses travel deepest and join the Will in becoming inconspicuous under the air's chill. If honoring the flow, many new memories are prepared but not yet expressed in l'iver hibernations. Still, the marrow has much to tell. Those warm whispers we've allowed to fly past our ears with breezes of its kind found their anchor long ago. It is when the message queue gets full that we shiver to our bones: remembering springs, summers, the fall, bright ideas, late nights, early mornings and appreciating in their absence the respect that both the abyss and angels above have no choice but to offer the persistent flame in heart. God Bless ... and it is so.

Fri/end of Days

As another year draws to a close, festive company, music and commemorations abound from a cultural fulcrum. Even this post's corresponding tune is teeming with flavor, however feisty! In a former incarnation of this blog (circa 2006-9 as mentioned in last week's post), it was fun to occasionally learn and share some of the different spins people put on the days of the year. Birthdays, religious observances, Boxing Day, Thanksgiving, moon phases and the like can already be found on most calendars across the globe. You'd be surprised by what obscure stories also speak 'behind the stories'! For instance, today is known to some as Childermas or Innocents' Day, in memory of those baby boys slain in an evil attempt to thwart the Christ child's birth. Interestingly enough, it is also Card Playing Day (?!), much to what I guess is the pleasure of school cafeteria and casino dwellers alike. Those tidbits were educational, entertaining and random in their delivery, but two things I receive as humbly certain and deliberate to my soul: all citizens of the world can create a laundry list of joys and pains for any day yet the Most High God presides over every one. With surrender to this understanding, the Spirit of the Lord will prove to be our truest Friend. Can you attest to any other relationship wherein reverently being your honest, flawed and even vulnerable self guarantees no harm or end? By God's grace, now I can.

"All trust..."