Three Healing, Mindful, Prayer-like Poems to Begin Your New Year

My readers know that, even though I am a psychic, I blog about many things which I feel are related to holistic living….culture, creativity, health, humor. And poetry…which I find not to just be enriching, but also right in line with living a more healed, spiritual, deepening life. These 3 poems by wonderful, esteemed poets came to my attention in years past or as this year began, and I feel they are inspiring to share. Each one points to a way to live which is right in alignment with many of the reasons clients seek out spiritual guidance with a “personal growth-oriented” psychic such as myself. Enjoy…and please comment below!

This first is one I have loved for decades:

i am running into a new year 

By Lucille Clifton

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

This next one, I found out after reading up on it, was actually written for the Jewish New Year in autumn (always on a New Moon), but is such a beautiful and apt prayer for a new cycle:

The Head of the Year

By Marge Piercy

The moon is dark tonight, a new
moon for a new year. It is
hollow and hungers to be full.
It is the black zero of beginning. Now you must void yourself
of injuries, insults, incursions.
Go with empty hands to those
you have hurt and make amends. It is not too late. It is early
and about to grow. Now
is the time to do what you
know you must and have feared
to begin. Your face is dark
too as you turn inward to face
yourself, the hidden twin of
all you must grow to be. Forgive the dead year. Forgive
yourself. What will be wants
to push through your fingers.
The light you seek hides
in your belly. The light you
crave longs to stream from
your eyes. You are the moon
that will wax in new goodness.

And the profound Irish poet gives us a blessing for those who need hope and courage for the year ahead…such gorgeous words:

Beeanacht: A Blessing for The New Year

By John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets in to you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green,
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

[Note: “Beannacht” is the Gaelic word for “blessing.” A “currach” is a large boat used on the west coast of Ireland.]

What is your favorite and why? Please comment below.
I wish you a wondrous year ahead!