Cheryl Ward, “New Year’s in New York”
New Year’s Day
Here’s a New Year’s poem by the great 19th century haiku poet Kobayashi Issa. Issa reminds us that, even though we may approach the new year with brave new resolutions, we are who we are. Our challenge is to balance ambition with reality:
New Year’s Day—
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.
The poem reminds me of a saying that I once found to be very liberating:
Every day offers us 10,000 new possibilities. So what.
For one who feels that he’s supposed to make the most of every new opportunity, who feels driven to accomplish great things, it’s a relief to be assured that one doesn’t always have to be extraordinary. “About average” can be okay as well.
As John Milton, fretting over the fact that he was blind, once wrote, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Of course, he then went on to write Paradise Lost.
Happy 2013!
A note on the artist: Cheryl Ward’s acrylic on wood painting can be found at www.etsy.com/listing/103681792/painting-new-years-in-new-york-4×4.
3 Comments
Happy New Year, Robin!
Happy New Year, Robin! Wishing you and your family a blessed 2013.
p.s. i really like that saying…made me smile.
And to you in return, Barbara and Farida. You make writing this blog worthwhile.