Jane Yolen
Everything Old Becomes New
Everything old becomes new before it dies.
Chrysalis, a moment before the butterfly
stretches those limp and limpid wings,
exchanges breath with its quaking prisoner.
The egg about to crack apart openly
remembers the warmth inside the hen.
Mountain crumbling into its own ravines
breathes the youth of the morning sky.
And you walking the hills of Chagford,
remark the old year, watching the old sun
blaze the landscape anew, one last time
before the turning of the faded year.
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Jane Yolen has over 335 published books (she has stopped counting), including about 70 books of poetry, all but six of which are for children. Her adult poetry books include: The Radiation Sonnets (Algonquin), Among Angels (with Nancy Willard for Harcourt Brace), Things to Say to a Dead Man (HolyCow! Press), Ekaterinislav: A Family’s Journey to America (HolyCow! Press), The Last Selchie Child (A Midsummer Night’s Press), Speaking in Pearls (Papavera Press, a limited edition fine art press) and her latest Sister Fox’s Field Guide to Writing (Unsettling Wonder Press). See her website for more information: http://janeyolen.com/poetry/
