Welcome to the final Poem of the Month for 2011!
As I look back on the year on this last evening of 2011, I’m amazed at the wonderful memories and events that filled the year, and for the people that made each of those events so special.
There are a whirlwind of events that provided color and texture to 2011 for me.
My daughter turned 10 and performed in the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; and my son turned 14 with us spending some great father-son time fly fishing. For any of us with kids growing older minute by minute right in front of our eyes, I think we begin to recognize more and more how important and precious each of those moments are.
Travel played a prominent role for us in 2011. The whole family traveled to Alabama for Spring Break in April and are visiting again right now for Christmas and New Years. It has been wonderful to spend time with my family and appreciate the time with them and the memories of my home town. Jody and I were able to take a trip to Hawaii, where she was attending a conference, as well as to a Chicago wedding for Jody’s cousin and one in Sacramento for one of Jody’s closest friends. There is nothing like a wedding to bring together family and friends in such happy celebrations. We also visited the San Juan Islands twice this year, once on the annual Todd/Kealy camping trip, and a second visit on a boat with some close friends. I had a business trip to Philadelphia where I was able to have dinner with the person I donated bone marrow to 19 years ago. Finally, I took my 6th Annual Port Wine trip to Portugal, where I tasted my oldest wine – an 1812 Vintage Port.
There were other notable milestones this year worth mentioning. I celebrated my 40th birthday in April – a wine-themed event that featured a house filled with close friends and a collection of 1971 wines including a Cheval Blanc, a Chateau d’Yqyem and a Noval Colheita Port from my birth year. Jody and I joyously celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on July 7th. This was the 25th season of, and my 18th season playing with, the Miracles Co-Ed softball team I play on each summer. It was nice to cap the 2011 softball season with a league championship! Finally, I celebrated the anniversary of fortheloveofport.com, the Port Wine website my friend Roy and I started six years ago.
Quite a lot of events, travel and memories for me in 2011. However, as I read back through the litany of events that marked my days for 2011, every single one is meaningful to me not for where I was or what I did, but for the people who made those moments special and remarkable. To my children, my family in Alabama, my wife, my in-laws, my softball team, my wine friends and all of those friends who have knowing or unknowingly left their mark on my memories for 2011 – I thank you, and wish you a 2012 filled with similar wonderful memories with family and friends.
Happy New Year!
Robert W. Service
(1874 – 1958)
The Passing of the Year
My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel the old year go.
I dedicate to solemn thought
Amid my too-unthinking days,
This sober moment, sadly fraught
With much of blame, with little praise.
Old Year! upon the Stage of Time
You stand to bow your last adieu;
A moment, and the prompter’s chime
Will ring the curtain down on you.
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;
You falter as a Sage in pain;
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,
And face your audience again.
That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,
Let us all read, whate’er the cost:
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?
Is it for dear one you have lost?
Is it for fond illusion gone?
For trusted lover proved untrue?
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan
What hath the Old Year meant to you?
And you, O neighbour on my right
So sleek, so prosperously clad!
What see you in that aged wight
That makes your smile so gay and glad?
What opportunity unmissed?
What golden gain, what pride of place?
What splendid hope? O Optimist!
What read you in that withered face?
And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,
What find you in that filmy gaze?
What menace of a tragic doom?
What dark, condemning yesterdays?
What urge to crime, what evil done?
What cold, confronting shape of fear?
O haggard, haunted, hidden One
What see you in the dying year?
And so from face to face I flit,
The countless eyes that stare and stare;
Some are with approbation lit,
And some are shadowed with despair.
Some show a smile and some a frown;
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:
Enough! Oh, ring the curtain down!
Old weary year! it’s time to go.
My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that’s true,
For we’ve been comrades, you and I —
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!
