By: Annette McElhiney
Only a night from old to new!
Only a night, and so much wrought!
The Old Year’s heart all weary grew,
But said: The New Year rest has brought.”
The Old Year’s hopes its heart laid down,
As in a grave; but trusting, said:
“The blossoms of the New Year’s crown
Bloom from the ashes of the dead.”
The Old Year’s heart was full of greed;
With selfishness it longed and ached,
And cried: “I have not half I need.
My thirst is bitter and unslaked.
But to the New Year’s generous hand
All gifts in plenty shall return;
True love it shall understand;
By all y failures it shall learn.
I have been reckless; it shall be
Quiet and calm and pure of life.
I was a slave; it shall go free,
And find sweet pace where I leave strife.”
Only a night from old to new!
Never a night such changes brought.
The Old Year had its work to do;
No New Year miracles are wrought.
Always a night from old to new!
Night and the healing balm of sleep!
Each morn is New Year’s morn come true,
Morn of a festival to keep.
All nights are sacred nights to make
Confession and resolve and prayer;
All days are sacred days to wake
New gladness in the sunny air.
Only a night from old to new;
Only a sleep from night to morn.
The new is but the old coem true;
Each sunrise sees a new year born.
– Helen Hunt Jackson
On the eve of 2017, I look back at the gains and losses of 2016 and try to focus on the positive.
Helen Hunt Jackson, born in 1830 in Amherst, MA, was an orphaned child and a childhood friend of Emily Dickinson. She was married, gave birth to two children who both died, became a widow, remarried, fought tuberculosis, and later became an activist for Native American rights after the Mexican American War. She was a social critic, poet, novelist, and writer. In A Century of Dishonor (1881) she looks at how governmental actions may affect various people.
She is a role model for me (despite her challenging personal life) due to her activism for opposing racism models compassion, understanding, and hope!
So why am I choosing to write about Helen Hunt Jacksons poem on the eve of 2017? New Year’s Eve is no longer a time for partying and dancing as my chemo induced neuropathic feet prohibit that. I’m content having a glass of wine and looking back to see how closely the year’s events met my hopes and expectations.
Certainly for ovarian cancer survivors, 2016 has offered advancements in immunotherapy, in making Avastin available for recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer patients, the FDA approval of new drugs like the PARP inhibitors, and recognizing new risk favors in ovarian cancer survivors and in developing liquid biopsies.
In January of 2015, President Obama allotted Federal tax payers dollars to launch the Precision Medicine Initiative that I wrote about in an earlier post. Many survivors hoped that his initiative would address the need for less destructive and longer acting treatment for advanced ovarian cancer. Again, significant progress has been made in 2016.
But for those of us with a disease like ovarian cancer, progress can not come quickly enough as the clock keeps ticking for all!
Today, the futures of Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Health Care Act and the Precision Medicine Initiative seem uncertain. As an eight-year ovarian cancer survivor, I’m struggling to be hopeful for the future of cancer care.
Consequently, when facing an impending crisis, I turn to poetry to find inspiration. As I looked through her poems, I found solace in the words that Helen Hunt Jackson wrote 177 years ago before we knew much about ovarian cancer.
Helen Jackson Hunt obviously believed in restoration of the body and mind through rest and refocusing. I’m trying to take her advice and use the quiet time before the new year to re-educate myself, re-energize my passion, and then re-dedicate myself to ovarian cancer advocacy! Therefore this post today is is less about information and more about contemplation.
Hopefully each of us can revitalize ourselves once again and wake up in 2017 feeling renewed, hopeful, and ready to fight for the rights of our ovarian cancer sister’s survivorship!
Happy New Year and March On my sisters!
To read more of Annette’s posts in The Clearity Portal, click here to login.