As the year turns...

Everyone says "Boy, am I glad this year is over!" at the end of every year. Can't say that's normally true for me. I mean, stuff happens - both good and bad - which is just how life is.

2007 promises to be quite a year for Farmer Ted, I think. In all likelyhood, the view you see at right from the porch may change. But that's in 2007.

Every year I re-read the poem "Paeans" that Maya Angeou recited at the Millennium Celebration in Washington DC for 2000. For me, it's just as appropriate now as we look to what we hope will be as the year turns:

The bells are a-clamor,
chimes have been loosed;
there is a banquet of Hosannas in the air.

We have endured endless peaks of pain and valleys of loneliness;
We have lost beloved's we could not live without; yet we have lived.

We have encountered unforgivable cruelty; yet we have forgiven, yet we have been forgiven.

We have survived, flourished, and thrived with passion, compassion, humor and style. We have been fortunate and worthy.

Now we stand, heavy laden, before a great gate which leads to the rest of all time. It swings ajar, and we know at this critical moment that not all we carry need enter when we enter.

We can evict hate and scorn from our souls; we can open clenched fists, and let bigotry, malice and enmity fall back down the slope to yesterday.

We can lay down our burden of violence and step lightly over the lintel into a vernal and newly-minted tomorrow.

We, who never saw a new century; we, who never saw a new one thousand years, can join the hallelujah, the hymns, the paeans, the voices all over the world.

We can shout or whisper, scream or mumble:
Happy New Millennium!
Happy New Century!!
Happy New Year!!!

Wishing us all peace,

- Farmer Ted