A Poem for the New Year

Happy 2011!!!!!!

I love this time of year.  A time to reassess priorities, a fresh start to an endless array of new beginnings.  And so in that vein, I present one of my favorite poems.  I happened to crack open Leaves of Grass this week, and have been enjoying revisiting Whitman's words.  I really relate to this piece. With all the negative we come across in this world and within ourselves, it is easy to become discouraged.  But despite all these things, there are also infinite possibilities open before us and with them the opportunity to make a real and substantial difference.  So in a couple of weeks when the luster is starting to fade on those well-intentioned resolutions, don't become discouraged.  Take heart and renew your commitment to the verse you want to contribute in this powerful play called life.

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer. That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

- Walt Whitman