Another New Year

Much is written about ringing in the new year and ringing out the old.  Let’s not go there.  You know what you will be doing on New Year’s Eve.  We don’t need to talk about it.  It might be good for us to look at the future – near and far.  HOW DO YOU PLAN FOR THIS NEW YEAR?  Only you can determine that.  I’ve decided this week to not give you a diatribe about the customary pleas we hear for going into a new year.  Rather, I determined to give you two poems to think about this time in our lives.  This first poem was written a year ago for the Tips and Chips newsletter of the Denver Gem and Mineral Guild; it was published in the January 2020 edition.

Resolve or Plan

Here we are
At the end of a year
And, the beginning
Of another.

Some folks make
New Year resolutions
Only to break them
In the first day
Or week
Or month.

Making New Year resolutions
Is not for me.
I make plans
Instead.

To break a resolution
Seems like failure to me.
I don’t take kindly
To failing.

Not accomplishing a goal
Simply means a chance
To re-group, to re-imagine,
And try again..

Even though one day
Leads into the next.
The end of a year.
The beginning of new year

Feels as though
A newer kind of day
Will be there for us
Tomorrow.

Make your plans
And know that
If you don’t reach
Most of your goals

According to your
Timeline,
You can always
Re-group and re-imagine
And try again.

 

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This poem, new for this year, gives me an opportunity to think about our next new year.  We’ve had lots of time to think about this issue of what the new year will bring.  And, either hope or pray or both (your choice) that this black time will be replaced as soon as possible with light.  The poem will be published in the January 2021 issue of the Tips and Chips.

And The Monkey Looked At Me

What will the New Year bring?
I asked the monkey on my shelf.
The monkey just looked at me.

Will this pandemic leave
Us?  Will the vaccines work?
The monkey just looked at me.

How many lives will
Be lost before the end of next year?
Did the monkey frown?

Shall I stock up on
Paper goods, again?
The monkey just looked at me.

How many cases of
Soup shall I buy?
The monkey didn’t say a word.

Will people be smart?
Will they abide by scientists’ cautions?
The monkey hung his head.

Will we be able
To go without a mask?
The monkey covered his mouth.

Will the new year
Bring fewer tears?
The monkey closed his eyes.

Will school children hear
Their lessons in a classroom?
The monkey covered his ears.

Will anything good come
From this pandemic?
And, the monkey just looked at me.

Be safe and well.

The Cranky Crone

If you have thoughtful feedback or questions, please let me know with a comment below.

 

Just a note:  The monkey sock puppet was provided by Daughter #3.  Thanks, Jill.