This year, perhaps we should return
to the playgrounds
of elementary school, our first introduction
to the yards
that called us out to play, in sun
or rain, out for recess
onto the grass and earth trodden
below our small feet,
discovering the freedom of delight,
of sharing ourselves,
and the pure enjoyment of others
with us, shared
and sharing, long before the
bullies came along,
when our size and shape and color,
our burgeoning skills
developing, our differences and
sameness didn’t matter,
not to us so young, not to the
playground, the other children,
but only that we had each other;
what mattered then,
those moments in that time in our
lives, existing only for itself,
those moments held tightly in our
imaginations where everything
good was possible, and that was
enough in this little world we lived.
Oh, that we could carry that time
with us into this new year,
that moment the ball drops and
every moment we face moving
through the days, the months, the
years ahead, the seasons beyond,
these seasons we shared there on
the playground carried with us now,
where everything good is possible,
and that is enough.
