Twelve months ago,a brisk January beginning,a gift in her hand.“Open it”, she swoons.Wrappings fell to the floor,a box lid yawns wide,reveals a rainbow blanket splayed in glory,a present of presence. “Let’s switch places,” she poses.My clenched grip of striving unfurls, Iplace my efforts on the golden altar.Allow her, the new year,to swaddle me close in a colorful embrace.She places me on her lap,spins her song of beauty, places silky medicine in my heart. Upside down,cocooned for a year —Anointed with color,the paint of cosmic swirls shifting cells, metaphors ofancient stories unlock theirmystery of knowing through the gatewayof an unadorned canvas….