Joy
Written by:
"As the moon kindles the night
As the wind kindles the fire
As the rain fills every ocean
And the sun the earth
So your heart will kindle my heart"
-Kindle my Heart, from A Little Princess, by Patrick Doyle, David Snell, and New London Children's Choir
Joy
Igniting joy now
feels like laughing at a funeral—
inappropriate, but necessary. And catching.
Globally, disaster.
Locally, a beating heart.
The mismatch hums inside my ribs
Seeking resonance. Who's with me?
Rebellion is growing,
And it is joy.
Time to touch grass—
To gallop, drinking wind,
To plunge into cold lakes,
To climb until breath replaces thought,
To embody wonder that dissolves dread.
As I inventory what remains intact,
Joy appears—
not as optimism,
but as refined clarity in the darkness.
Gratitude, the spark.
Attention, the friction.
Joy, the heat,
The woolly insulation
for this cold century of confusion
Joy is kindled
By the kindness we share now;
For every person who enters or exits our lives–
Every person–
Ignites it again.
Bio: Haley May Peterson is from Wyoming but has lived half of her life in the Applegate. She moved to Oregon to attend SOU and massage school and spend time with her grandmother, Joan Peterson, who lived on Thompson Creek Road for 50 years. She recently moved to Medford, but still visits the Valley regularly and feels deeply connected to the land and the community.