This week the word is HOPE
'Praedyth, there's always room in the back of the mind for hope. It's the crack that let's the light in.
A friend sent this poem to me just this week and I thought it was fitting to share with the word of HOPE.
Hope
It hovers in dark corners
before the lights are turned on,
it shakes sleep from its eyes
and drops from mushroom gills,
it explodes in the starry heads
of dandelions turned sages,
it sticks to the wings of green angels
that sail from the tops of maples.
It sprouts in each occluded eye
of the many-eyed potato,
it lives in each earthworm segment
surviving cruelty,
it is the motion that runs
from the eyes to the tail of a dog,
it is the mouth that inflates the lungs
of the child that has just been born.
It is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.
It is the serum which makes us swear
not to betray one another;
it is in this poem, trying to speak.
“Hope” by Lisel Mueller from Alive Together. © Louisiana State University Press, 1996.
Yesterday my tea group celebrated the Chinese New Year over zoom. What you see here is my tea table for the celebration. Of course, there was a rabbit in attendance. Do you see her? She will be my guiding force this year reminding me to have hope, gentleness and creativity.
As it is the beginning of a new lunar year the following came in my inbox this morning from one of my favorite tea companies, Grass People Tree.
"The rabbit symbolizes longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese Culture; thus, 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope.
Furthermore,
the Rabbit of 2023 falls under the wood element, with water as the
complementary element. Since water helps wood (trees) to grow, 2023 will
be a strong wood year."
Wishing you all a hope-filled 2023!
