To a New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

FOR THE NEW YEAR, 1981

I have a small grain of hope—

one small crystal that gleams

clear colors out of transparency.

I need more.

I break off a fragment

to send you.

Please take

this grain of a grain of hope

so that mine won’t shrink.

Please share your fragment

so that yours will grow.

Only so, by division,

will hope increase,

like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower

unless you distribute

the clustered roots, unlikely source—

clumsy and earth-covered—

                                       of grace.                                              

Denise Levertov