Time to reFlect so it appears
For not only is it that month of year,
But sometimes people pop into your space
When you least expect it
Like on the way down from a cloudy full moon sky.
His name was Captain, he said as he filled up our car,
Smiling and humming, it was so uplifting to see,
that I asked If he’d had a good day, his happiness engulfing me
He held the windscreen cleaner as he looked me right in the eye
‘I have a happy day everyday’ to which I replied,
Nothing which is worthy of writing.
‘I choose to be happy every day, and if I come across a bad attitude, I know it will pass’.
And so part of my goal of 2016, is to be the Captain of my own days, though it’s likely
That many will be whittled away
with emotions Fraught and Frustrated as most of us are.
But no matter.
First though, I Feel it necessary to reFlect on twenty Fifteen which, in some ways at least,
Seemed a little Fraught so I thought I’d Focus on F
It simpliFies it all.
Escaping the Fire is how I remember it began, and then amongst Lit Fests and conFerences I tried to Find
the Favoured path of writing
which conFused and Frustrated me most of the time.
It was a year of Must Falls, was twenty Fifteen,
First it was Rhodes, then it was Fees,
For me too, it sometimes Felt as if I was on my knees,
Amongst other Foibles, was Forever trying hard to please
It’s a Writer’s greatest Fear, the Failing Game,
For many, I believe, it’s much the same.
In the end, I believe you must do what you Feel’s right and no-one can tell you, you must Find it
yourself, though it’s sometime diFFicult to see it
When it’s on the top shelf
But in the Finale, what really matters are Family and Friends,
They’re the magic Fibres that keep most of us aFloat when we’re at our wits end.
And then before I knew it we were Facing matric Finals, and then Farewells and things,
Still battling the conFlict of where the writing was emerging
And then out of somewhere, a new title Flew,
And now I Feel right and not so Fraught anymore, and suddenly I see it quite clearly, what needs to be explored,
I am looking so Forward to twenty sixteen, to try harder to Focus on what it all really means,
To be more mindFul, more wonderFul than how twenty Fifteen has been.
This is the time to look back and reFlect, to find things worthy of keeping and those
You must reject,
Here’s wishing you all a Fabulous Fun-Filled and Festive season,
And may 2016 bring you all HAPPY things whatever your reason.
Here’s what I am reading and loving at the end of twenty Fifteen.
Niki Malherbe 