December 30, 2011

Let us lift the latch,
let ourselves in through the gate.
We have found our way.

We now stand at the gate.  We have almost made it back to where we began.  Thank you all who chose to walk a little while with me.

Three rings of ring composition are closing here at once: December’s month-ring as well as the two great rings of the year.  Tomorrow is the latch.

Month-ring: Today’s haiku speaks across the month-ring to the haiku from December 15 (“Dear Trails”).  There are footprints all around the world, made by us, made by others who have gone before.  Some we can see; some we cannot.  The important thing is to make sure the footprints we create are our own.  We can do that by being resolute; we can do that well by being open-minded and inquisitive as well as resolute.  While it is good metaphorically to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, it is imperative literally to walk in one’s own.

Classic parabolic or pedimental year-ring: Today’s haiku speaks across the parabola of the year to the haiku from January 2 (“Intentions”) which shows our opening of the gate to which we now return.  The concern at the time was trespassing, both spatially and temporally.  However, it is only when we trespass that we grow.  To grow into ourselves, we must go beyond the limits of what we currently consider ourselves.  To become more ourselves, we must explore beyond the boundaries of what we call ourselves.

Year-ring: Finally, today’s haiku speaks across the year-ring to the haiku from June 30 (“Ringslangen”).  And so we return to where we began, circling round like the nature of which we are a part.  The journey has changed us, we have sloughed some old skin, but hopefully become a bit more ourselves.  Though like the green garter snake I will soon “return to hiding”, remember being “hidden” from one point of view means being conspicuous from another.