In the northern hemisphere, it’s the shortest day of the year.  For me, it’s a day to balance on light and dark.  What calls me now?  What paths open before me, and yet, as Antonio Machado wrote in “Traveler, your footprints”: 

Traveler, your footprints

are the only road, nothing else.

Traveler, there is no road;

you make your own path as you walk.

As you walk, you make your own road,

and when you look back

you see the path

you will never travel again.

Traveler, there is no road;

only a ship’s wake on the sea.

“only a ship’s wake on the sea.”

Last night I watched the movie “Within the Whirlwind”.  I plan now to read the book.  It puts what we’re going through into perspective.  It’s a true story with a happy ending.  

It’s a powerful look at how we meet what comes, no matter how horrific, painful, unfair, and unimaginable.   

As we stand on the cusp of a new year, I’m with these words of T.S. Eliot:

“For last year’s words belong to last years language

And next year’s words await a new voice.”