'Poem for the week' -- "Advice for a Gray Afternoon":
Do not assume the worst, a trap
Loneliness sets for old age,
Or make impossible demands
On your equally lonesome peers.
Set your children free,
Not always at your beck and call.
Because your needs keep growing
And are endless, don’t imagine
There are answers to everything
Your heart cries Yes to.
Give yourself permission to question
Certainties you once bet your life on.
Establish and maintain a good forgettery,
Welcome that angel with others.
Make trust the keeper of your house.
Sit in the sun that banishes doldrums,
Useless apologies, guilt.
Open your eyes, uncurl your fingers,
Take in what you need.
Give sleep the upper hand,
Fall often into the arms of that god.
-- Jeanne Lohmann
