Like many people at the beginning of each year, I have been thinking about what I want to bring into my life and what I want to leave behind.  One thing I have wanted to do is to take a poetry class. I have written prayers and blessings for my work, but never poetry just for myself.  

Thankfully, my dear friend was also dreaming of the same thing. While we were talking about what we wanted, she encouraged me to take a poetry class with her this year.  Knowing that she would be there gave me the courage to say yes.  Funny how good friends do that, encourage you chase your dreams.

The other practice I wanted to do was to pick up my digital camera more.  I love film, and there will always be a film camera in my bag, but digital helps me learn, even when it just lets me take the same picture again and again and again until the back of the camera matches what my eye sees.  

So, my first offering this year is the gentle beginning of these two dreams, and one thing I will never leave behind, capturing my glorious tree in full bloom.

Each year, my tree will remind me,
for she knows I am prone to forget,
Hope takes root in darkness,
a quiet promise, steady and unseen.

Through each season
her branches have held their breath,
her roots have rehearsed their return,
steadfast, quietly waiting below.

Then a gentle, steady insistence
breaks into the darkness.
Not loud.
Not rushed.
Just certain.

Petals open like letters
written to remind me,
whispering,
See, look here,
I did not leave.
I was only waiting.

Hope arrives this way,
not as a miracle,
but as a rhythm practiced,
year after year after year.

What are you dreaming of this year?
~Staci Lee