Still water and clear time

New Year Resolve

by May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.
                       from Collected Poems 1930-1993. © W.W. Norton & Co., 1993

When I legally changed my name after my divorce, I placated my father by keeping the initial "S" which was the beginning of the surname given to me by him as tradition then dictated.  But in my heart, I had left the identity of my youth and adopted that "S" in honor of the solace, wisdom and self-knowledge demonstrated to me through the writing and poetry of May Sarton.  Now that I, too, live in New England, many of her images resonate even more clearly.

Wishing you and yours ample clear time and clear water throughout the year.