I am running into a new year.

For our readers for whom we are very grateful! Here is a special poem I love and a wish for a very special 2012.




I Am Running into a New Year

i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twenty-six and thirty-six
even thirty-six but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me

 a poem by Lucille Clifton
from Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980