The end and the beginning. Goodbye and hello

by Pat Laster

FAREWELL
(a Farewell pattern with Acrostic)
G alloping swiftly, as on fire;
O ver minutes, hours and days,
O beying nature’s agenda,
D ashing through time down the
B ackstretch of December,
Y ou daze us with speed—an
E ntire year gone.
c 2011 – Pat Laster
~~~

FIND SOMETHING USEFUL YOU CAN DO EACH DAY
(a Villanelle pattern)
Find something useful you can do each day
that isn’t subject to the world’s review,
that alters life around you in some way.


Your friends may need an advocate and pray
for you to light their way and help them through;
find something useful you can do each day.


You’ll make the earth a better place to stay
if you engage yourself in derring-do
that alters life around you in some way.

A smile, a thank-you note, a gay bouquet,
some thoughtful deed to make a life less blue;
find something useful you can do each day.


You need a useful task to lift dismay,
a project you can throw your heart into
that alters life around you in some way.


It may be taking time to read or play,
or dreaming of the things you’ve yet to do.
Find something useful you can do each day
that alters life around you in some way.
c 2011 Pat Laster
~~~

AND THEN I SAW IT WAS JANUARY
(a Laurette pattern sequence)

I looked around
some days beyond
December, found the year
had fled. Instead
the Janus month,
cold January’s here!

Oh, snow and ice
and bitter cold.
The north wind howls apace.
The schools are closed,
some churches, too,
but, oh! Bright winter’s face!

The old cat sleeps
beside the fire,
his paw above an eye.
Before too long,
’Mom Nature will
blow January by.
c 2011 Pat Laster
~~~

I had intended to include William Carlos Williams' "Burning of the Christmas Greens," but thought better of it since I couldn't find who owned the copyright.

May the memories of Christmas strengthen you for the vagaries of the New Year.
God bless us every one.
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