Winter Solstice, Northern Hemisphere, 2015

(from Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman) 

Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,

Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,

Looks down, is erect, bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,

Looks with its sidecurved head curious what will come next,

Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it.

Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with

            linguists and contenders,

I have no mocking or arguments….I witness and wait.