The day after Christmas is a letdown for many of us. Perhaps we are despondent for simple reasons – we didn’t get what we wanted, we ate too much, the day passed too quickly. Others lament the loss of loved ones and the aching loneliness it brought to the Christmas season. Some lament the political struggles of the last year and the growing chaos of our world. Others lament the overwhelming impact of climate change.
Whatever saddens this day after Christmas for you, read through this poem by Ana Lisa De Jong and be refreshed.
Many blessings
Are you waiting in the blue?
Is blue the colour of your heart.
Or blue the light that
falls upon your path.
Is blue the weight
that sits upon your frame.
Or blue the echo to resonate
within your chest.
Is blue the hue that covers you like snow,
or clouds carrying rain.
Is blue the light that envelops you,
or in the pain that pushes at your chest.
Remember blue is another colour with which
you are held close.
Loss lengthening like shadows in the longest night,
is always the underside of life lived to its full.
Until its treasure all consumed for now,
is wrung out like rain washed clothes.
Then blue is the light that covers you,
while what is waiting in the wings takes some unseen shape.
Grows ready like the burning sun to come round,
and burn through the vestiges of what remains.
Blue, the space between the old and new,
is the gentle pallbearer of your pain,
whose job is done when life
restored enters in,
to lift the covering edge
and do its alchemy of love,
absorbing the blue
in its rainbow hues.
Yes, are you walking blue?
Has blue become the weight in your step.
Grief that knows its season
will recede back, to greet the sun.
And if not yet,
then be assured of shortening nights to come.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
December 2018