The Almanac


The almanac for the coming year is here.  

I thumb through the astronomical section: 
It's stuff I'll want to look up later about
Solstices and equinoxes, maybe an eclipse or two, 
But not really reading material. 
Other articles and even some of the ads are more interesting.  

But then I come to the calendar pages, 
One for each month of the new year.  

January looms as a long block of back-to-work post-Christmas gray.  
The groundhogs and valentines and long-dead presidents of February 
 offer scant consolation.  

But then we come to March and April, 
 with their bright promises of springtime.  

May brings childhood memories of counting the days 
 until school lets out for the summer.  
Even now, with my school days long past, 
May always seems a time of transition, 
 a reminder of the passage of the years. 

As winter howls outside my window June and July seem unreal, 
Just as winter will seem unreal when June and July are here. 

The sight of August brings a hint of melancholy, 
A reminder that the days of summer are numbered
And the sun must once again journey southward.  

Then comes September, with falling leaves 
Swirling down into October and November.  

Halloween and Thanksgiving lead my thoughts to festive December, 
When winter once again howls outside my window 
As I leaf through yet another new almanac
 for yet another new year.  



                                    -- Tom Digby
                                    Original 15:29 12/20/2002
                                    Edited   21:05 12/27/2002
                                    Edited   19:05 01/02/2003