A poem as we end the year—“Departed Days”:
Yes, dear departed, cherished days,
Could Memory’s hand restore
Your morning light, your evening rays
From Time’s gray urn once more,—
Then might this restless heart be still,
This straining eye might close,
And Hope her fainting pinions fold,
While the fair phantoms rose.
But, like a child in ocean’s arms,
We strive against the stream,
Each moment farther from the shore
Where life’s young fountains gleam;—
Each moment fainter wave the fields,
And wider rolls the sea;
The mist grows dark,—the sun goes down,—
Day breaks,—and where are we?
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes
As we begin another segment of time, where are we? Where am I?
To answer this question, I must be willing to ask what is going on around me? What is going on within me? How are the two related?
