Thought for the Year's End

by Louisa Fletcher

THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN

I wish that there were some wonderful place
   Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
   And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,
   And never be put on again.

I wish we could come on it all unaware,
   Like the hunter who finds a lost trail.
And I wish that the one whom our blindness had done
   The greatest injustice of all
Could be at the gates like an old friend that waits
   For the comrade he's gladdest to hail.

We would find all the things we intended to do
   But forgot, and remembered too late,
Little praises unspoken, little promises broken,
   And all of the thousand and one
Little duties neglected that might have perfected
   The day for one less fortunate.

It wouldn't be possible not to be kind
   In the Land of Beginning Again;
And the ones we misjudged and the ones whom we grudged
   Their moments of victory here
Would find in the grasp of our loving handclasp
   More than penitent lips could explain.

For what had been hardest we'd know had been best,
   And what had seemed loss would be gain;
For there isn't a sting that will not take wing
   When we've faced it and laughed it away;
And I think that the laughter is most what we're after
   In the Land of Beginning Again.





So I wish that there were some wonderful place
   Called the Land of Beginning Again,
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
   And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,
   And never be put on again.

12/31/11