@VoluntaryJapan 4 January 2022 more from that month

new year nowhere A year has gone by again So many expectations — undulations of time — cresting, crashing, then receding without much sound or ceremony back to that blackening, primal sea — But what delights the seasons gave us! Cherry blossoms wet and pink promising summer treasures And summer’s fading reminded us about fall's blazing leaves, and winter's cheerful nostalgia So much looking forward, eyes opening only now, to look back… Stupefied, forsaken and laid to rest — renewed and dead — by the cardboard cutout gods we were supposed to trust Shipwrecked on that dark shore aborted trajectories of heart and mind In hindsight, each moment was itself an eternity reflecting and searching in the face of an impossible magnificence — insignificance Projected from somewhere Not here Not there