The money and the milk and the honey

[sovay]

To all of you—even those of you who had a good 2007—a happier and healthier year. All of you. It's about time.

January

Iane biceps, anni tacite labentis origo,
solus de superis qui tua terga vides . . .
—Ovid, Fasti 1.64—65

He leans his arms on the gate as it swings
in the twilight, the keys dangling from his fingers
no more silver than his hair: an old man
with a young face, shadowed in the western sun
and the easterly moon, the stars through whose circle
time endlessly falls. Both ways he casts a shadow.
Tetradrachms and Turing machines. Quartos
and quantum entanglement. Offer him sweet figs,
ash-cakes, pale honey like a winter dawn
or uncertainties as tightly held as passports,
the price and the prize are the same in the end.
Heartbreak and heat death, the only road
to peace. From the rusted wood, the nails
have fallen to cut hexagrams in the snow.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

I love that.

May the wheel turn for you.

Nine

[sovay]

May the wheel turn for you.

And for you. Happy New Year.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Lovely piece there.

To all of you—even those of you who had a good 2007—a happier and healthier year. All of you. It's about time.

Thank you! And to you as well. I hope you're feeling better than at the last post.

[sovay]

I hope you're feeling better than at the last post.

Thank you. Shaky, but no longer feverish. This is a definite improvement.

Happy New Year!

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Shaky, but no longer feverish. This is a definite improvement.

Excellent. I hope the trend continues.

Happy New Year!

Thanks! You also!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

O, I do like this.

As a January baby I have a particular fondness for dear old Janus.

[sovay]

As a January baby I have a particular fondness for dear old Janus.

Then happy birthday and New Year!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thankyou.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's an excellent start to the year...

[sovay]

Oh, that's an excellent start to the year...

Thank you. Happy New Year!

[kayselkiemoon.livejournal.com]

oh and that is lovely; it stirs within me. a good gift for the new year. thank you for sharing it.

[sovay]

a good gift for the new year. thank you for sharing it.

You're very welcome. Happy New Year.

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And good wishes to you, as well.

[sovay]

And good wishes to you, as well.

Thank you! Happy New Year!

[upstart-crow.livejournal.com]

Lovely work, as usual but... was this meant to be a protected entry?

[sovay]

was this meant to be a protected entry?

No; I posted "Perdidit Spolia" openly last year for Christmas, and thought I would do the same for New Year's.

[eredien]

Thank you!

[sovay]

Thank you!

You're welcome! Happy New Year.