A New Year's Wish

A New Year's wish: may you have a year filled with miracles, and may you stop, on occasion, to appreciate that they are there. I now turn you over to Mr. Walt Whitman.

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MIRACLES

WHY, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—
the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

"I Sit and Look Out" by Walt Whitman

At this time of year when celebration is in the air and the buying of material goods reaches a nearly religious level of obsession, I think it is important to stop, sit and think about the state of the world and the unending plight of those less fortunate. This poem by Walt Whitman always helps me remember to do that.


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I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;
I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves,
     remorseful after deeds done;
I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;
I see the wife misused by her husband--I see the treacherous seducer of young women;
I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid--
     I see these sights on the earth;
I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny--I see martyrs and prisoners;
I observe a famine at sea--I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be kill'd,
     to preserve the lives of the rest;
I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor,
     and upon negroes, and the like;
All these--All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,
See, hear, and am silent.

Some Quotes

Here are a few quotes that I love and find profound or inspiring. I'd like to see your favorite quotes as well. Share them in the comments section below!

"What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom?"
Henry David Thoreau, Life Without Principle

"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least,
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself."
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

"I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware, I sit content."
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

"It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
Whoever is not in his coffin and the dark grave, let him know he has enough."
Walt Whitman, "The Sleepers"