2020: A Mixed Blessing and a Farewell

It’s been so hard to say goodbye
To 2020.
I don’t know why.

It was, after all, a terrible year.
Full of sickness and death,
Loneliness and fear.

And yet –

A soft voice whispers in my ear.
“There are many things, Carole,
that you need to hear.
Don’t be afraid to open your eyes. Let your heart show you
How to be wise”.

What did I miss?
What could these things be?
Was there something to learn?
Something I did not see?

Ah – Yes.

I found a strength
That I possess
To face each day
Come what may.
I could not guess.
I could not say.
I only sensed
I had to stay
To see what in the future lay.

I learned that even things so small
Could make a difference
After all.
A text, a note, a simple call.

I watched in awe
People I saw
Who were so brave.
How many they saved!
Selfless and loving,
I did not know
Such courage existed
In a world so twisted.

I found there is hope
When I thought there was none.
I realized there still is
Work to be done.
It may not be fun.
But I can cope.

I see that I can not control
What others do or think or say.
And as for time
How much is left?
A day, a week, a month, a year?
It is my beating heart I hear.
And there is nothing I can do
But treat each day I live as new.
No matter how many,
No matter how few.

I learned that I could still have faith,
And love was something I could feel.
That hate and anger were not as strong,
And in this world
Kindness does belong.

I listen to the voice
Whisper softly in my ear.
“Life is full of change, Carole,
It’s time to give up your fear”.

So to 2020 I say goodbye.
I’ll have myself a really good cry.
And then my tears I will dry.

And move ahead.

Carole Leskin

Carole Leskin is a retired Director of Global Human Resources. Embarking on a second career as a writer and photographer concentrating on her personal accounts of aging, her essays and poetry, frequently accompanied by her photos, are published in Jewish Sacred Aging, Jewish Women of Words, Starts At 60, Navigating Aging ( a Kaiser Health publication), Women’s Older Wisdom, Time Goes By and Next Avenue. Her poems, “Father Time” and “Carole’s Debate” were selected for inclusion in the 2019 anthologies of poetry, New Jersey Bards. Her photos have been featured in Mart R Porter Nature Forum.