Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light, or Maybe Don’t

Because look where it got him, good old D.T., dead before 40,
with some earth-alteringly good poems, sure, but still,
most of us won’t die young, our underwear not only not clean
but possibly unspeakably not clean, and so as we hurtle
into the darkness of winter, the cold, the vortex
awaiting to suck down our moods and run up our bills,
let’s opt for not raging. Let’s do what we can.

Now is the time for the lighting of candles,
the drinking of port, the wearing of wool.
Time for the roasting until they are sweet
of root vegetables with their homely names:

oh turnip, oh beet, oh parsnip,
join your good pal potato,
your fat cousin carrots,
and give us the sun you soaked in through your leaves
all summer long and hid underground until now.

Give us this day our daily whatever
we need to keep going. It might be enough.

Don't worry. Something will turnip.

Don’t worry. Something will turnip.

4 responses to “Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light, or Maybe Don’t

  1. I love this. It so fits my mood at the turning of the season. I feel the need to savor the sunlight that those root vegetables soaked up, or at least savor the remembrance of it. And since you mentioned it, we have a bottle of port just waiting to be sipped by the warmth of the woodstove fire. Let it be.

  2. Granmommy and Grandaddy would be pleased to see the root vegetables named – I remember Grandaddy pulling turnips from the garden and using his pocket knife to slice off pieces, eating them where he stood!

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