Winter solstice is a day to look forward to, the ending of a school semester, the joy of decorating for Christmas, and our baby JuneBug’s birthday. And yet, almost as soon as I get home from school, the sky darkens and the world feels hushed and harsh and cold. Life is full of these bittersweet moments.
In 2013, I published a book with my poems and my father’s art, Illuminate. (Still available on Amazon.) I wrote poems for each of my father’s Christmas cards. He had done them for 10 years. It was also the year of his 80th birthday. On Novemeber 11th this year, he would have been 90. I miss him everyday. At this time of year, his presence is near as I thumb through his yearly cards and place one of his drawings on my wall. Art has become his legacy.
The Star Still Leads
The light shines in the darkness, and darkness did not overcome it.
Wise men traveled a great distance
with a will
strong enough to carry them
over hills and dunes,
through nights of wind,
storms, and cold.
All in search of a person.We travel a great distance
recorded in scrapbooks,
dated photographs,
no east, no south,
west, or north,
but names, people we love,
people who sustain us in hope.We are revealed to God,
Margaret Simon, Illuminate, 2013
our calloused hands
curled in prayer,
warmed by fervent asking
for relationship, for strength,
for understanding.
Asking for a star.
Reflections on the Teche 