Renewed Focus

POETRY FOR INCLUSION

A new year is among us

and our drum of resolve

beats with a renewed

sense of readiness

for what lies ahead

leaving behind life’s

syncopated rhythms of

last year filled

with joy and sorrow

hope and despair

security and worry

laughter and anger

to focus on the unknown

peaks and valleys for

the 365 day journey

whose tempo cannot

be predicted nor discerned

but the steady

drumbeat of faith will guide

footsteps toward

wisdom’s waterfall

flowing with abundant

love

Dr Clark is an outpatient psychiatrist at Prisma Health-Upstate and clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville. He served on the American Psychiatric Association’s Task Force to Address Structural Racism Throughout Psychiatry, and he currently serves as the Diversity and Inclusion section editor and advisory board member for Psychiatric Times^TM.