Belated New Year's Resolutions.. In Verse

Extract from "To An English Friend in Africa"

by Ben Okri

 

"Time is now a gift for you
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.

 

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom
Learn to act, learn a new speech
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit
Learn to free yourself from all things that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.

 

Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials
Endlessly fertile

Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change
Your life and go on doing for ever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive."

I heard the whole of this rather wonderful poem for the first time this afternoon.
If I had the gift of being able to write poetry, then I think my hopes and aspirations for 2018 might have shaped something a little like this.

It's hard to put my finger on the feeling exactly....I just feel as if it's taken two years to completely disentangle myself from the stresses of my old job.  I also spent a lot of 2017 very pre-occupied with worries about Thomas; family concerns; major house maintenance projects and HD stuff.  I was happy enough on a day-to day basis but very reluctant to make any major commitments beyond my private teaching, walking dates and regular 'coffee and catch ups' with my oldest/closest friends.

I've moved into 2018 with far more energy - physical, emotional and intellectual.  I think it can by partly attributed to the fact that we've moved back into 'worry-free' cat ownership.  It must also be a result of the life-changing news about HD just before Christmas.  I actually feel like I want to get my teeth into a proper project again.  One that might exhaust me a little, or take me out of my comfort zone.  I haven't got a clue what it might be... but this year I'm open to the potential.

"Watch this space..."  as they say!
Jx