Traditions are everywhere. And so is the mistletoe. Even the Grinches who put away the other trimmings leave the mistletoe on New Year’s Eve hoping for that magical kiss at midnight.
However you ring in the New Year, be it the ball drop, fireworks or champagne by the fire, most everyone does it with someone. If the crowd is thousands or merely two, when the midnight hour arrives, a kiss from the one you love is in order… mistletoe notwithstanding.
Mantra has no idea how the other half lives. Not New is a look into the tradition at the other end of the spectrum. It has a good beat, but you cannot dance to it.
Not New
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
The glass of champagne sits on the table,
Just as I sit all alone on the couch.
Nothing in its shadow if it should fall,
Not a thing but bare wood would its spill touch.
Walk over to the wall calendar
To give it just one more shrugging glance.
Days all run together, blurred red ink.
Did it ever really have a chance?
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
The clock sings an hour to go.
No place here is comfortable.
The images play on the screen
Of family at a table.
The tablecloth is in the wash,
And the china put back away.
Only one crystal champagne flute
Signs today is a special day.
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
At a quarter of, the countdown
Begins with my friends at parties.
Laughter, smiles, toasts and best wishes.
Hats, boas, everyone giddy.
Electronic love all over
The world where Internet reaches.
Alone on the divan, no crowd,
No moonlight on sandy beaches.
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
Five minutes contains the boundary
Of eternity when waiting
For the clock to strike twelve long chimes
To send another year packing.
Open the fridge for a quick snack.
Realization is a bitch.
No single serving container
Will satisfy this longing itch.
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
Who is that in the hall mirror?
I know how I got to be old.
Waiting for midnight to arrive
Sitting all alone in the cold.
Resolutions of fantasy
The next year would be different
All fade into reality.
It’ll be another year spent.
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
The dates may have changed, but the days
Will be as lonesome as the ones
That filled this long and lonely year.
Happiest felicitations
Only serve as a reminder
There is no one here to share it.
Raise the glass to yet one more year
Crushed with loneliness atop it.
Cross off the last day.
Nothing left to say.
After all, it’s not new.
251220121842
~~~~~~~~~~
How do you ring in the new year? Will you be spending it with family, friends and/or someone special?
May the new year bring you joy, love, health, prosperity and goodwill. Happy New Year.
Hashtags: #poetry #newyears
Phil
/ December 31, 2012I used to spend New Years night with friends and relatives but over the last 10 years or so it has been with my immediate Family (wife and children).
Happy New Year to you and yours Red.
I hope 2013 is a great year for you.
God Bless. 🙂
Phil recently posted..Happy New Year!
Red
/ January 2, 2013Happy New Year, Phil. I do not even remember the last time I was beyond family. They are the reason the holidays are important. Bright blessings for a healthy, joyous and prosperous new year for you and yours, Phil.
Binky
/ December 31, 2012Sad that people are alone if they don’t want to be.
Happy New Year, Red! Now that all the work is done on your new site, you can relax for the new year. Hahaha.
Binky recently posted..Return Policy
Red
/ January 2, 2013Hahaha! You are one funny Wombie 😛 Being alone any time when you do not want to be is sad. I am looking for no sadness in 2013!
Noeleen
/ December 31, 2012Like this very much, Red, & reflects true about time – that eternity in the 5 mins.
Just a mention because I know you like to be perfect on the page … well, I sense you do – in the 10th para, should be ‘off’ rather than ‘of’ (I think).
Cheers & happy new year!! 🙂
Noeleen recently posted..Many will be the wish and hope for ‘a better world’, But
Red
/ January 2, 2013See, you are one of the typo fairies 🙂 When I think about the song Time in a Bottle, I think of the eternity in the five minutes. I hope your new year’s day was bright and happy. I heard it was hot in your neck of the woods. xxx
John McDevitt
/ December 31, 2012Happy New Year Red. I like the poem. It evokes the ‘right’ emotions. I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s. I still remember how sad it all was on New Year’s day. Christmas magic stuffed into boxes destined for the cellar or attic. The house seemed so bare after the decorations (and my Lionel trains) were put away but the worst was yet to come.
New Year’s Day was the END of our Christmas vacation. Back to school in the morning.
I had a different slant on New Year’s when I was a teenager sneaking a few beers and pretending to be sober.
Then came the dates, the kisses but after a few years, we stayed home and enjoyed each other’s company for the evening.
When the kids were growing up we let them stay up to bang pots and pans at midnight.
Now the two of us share the moment of midnight with a kiss (if we manage to stay awake).
I think of the New Year as a time of renewal which is why I could never understand why the new year begins on Jan. 1st in the middle of the winter. The new year should begin at the Spring solstice.
I wouldn’t mind being alone so long as I wasn’t lonely.
John
John McDevitt recently posted..2012 in review
Red
/ January 2, 2013Oh, I vote for spring equinox!! That is a far better idea than in the dead of winter. It really is the time of renewal. Bah. What did Julius know anyway? All things considered, I am surprised it does not happy in July. Happy New Year, John.
Gail Thornton
/ December 31, 2012Dear Red,
I find Mantra’s poem exquisite in the emptiness of time and loneliness. The images, red ink on the calendar, the crystal champagne flute, crushed with loneliness atop it, like the ice of isolation. I can really feel the depth of this one, and the refrain is a lonely echo.
Love,
Gail
Gail Thornton recently posted..Poem – Crescendo
Red
/ January 2, 2013For me, the refrain (which is not one of Mantra’s hallmarks) continued to recur randomly until I reined it in a bit. It created a bit of cadence to mirror the passage of time during the countdown. I am glad this one touched you. xxx
prenin
/ January 1, 2013I had no party to go to and no friends to visit, so I slept through New Years, only waking to the fireworks before returning to sleep.
Another year.
Let’s hope it was better than the last… 🙂
Love and hugs my friend!
Prenin.
prenin recently posted..Monday – Last year of 2012
Red
/ January 2, 2013I am all for a better one this year, my friend!! Happy New Year.
RLB
/ January 1, 2013“It has a good beat, but you cannot dance to it.”
That’s my new mantra.
Chris and I slept through the neighbors’ fireworks, as usual. The last time friends came over and wanted to fire rockets through the development that’s down the hill from us, they did it amid my objections that they were scaring my two dogs nearly into fits, but they kept at it anyway. Some friends! The next New Year I remember, we were awake and heard small buzzy rockets go over our house from the next door neighbor, who wasn’t really a friend then but became one of the best some time later.
Time has a way of leveling all fields.
Red
/ January 2, 2013I think you are right about that. I have had my days where I wonder if my neighbors are all they are cracked up to be. Other days, they are not so bad. Happy New Year!
C. Brown
/ January 1, 2013Red this was intense. “After all, it’s not new” because it’s the same. I don’t know what to say other than I felt something when I read this.
C. Brown recently posted..If I Had Never Been Born….
Red
/ January 2, 2013Happy New Year. This one is a different view. I will take the speechlessness as a compliment. <3
BuddhaKat
/ January 1, 2013Pretty true to life, I’d say… I usually feel (and have for years) that New Year’s Eve/Day is like the denouement to the denouement after Christmas. How sad is that!?!?!?
Like Prenin, I was early to sleep, awakened by someone’s fireworks and soon back to snooze land. Didn’t have a drop to drink, unless you count Fresca.
Good thing we have an exciting year ahead of us!!!
love and peas,
🙂
BuddhaKat recently posted..Let us not forget the forgotten…
Red
/ January 2, 2013I am a TAB drinker, but I did have an eggnog. I cannot say I went to sleep 😉 I had a few things to do! xxx
Lorre Lyons
/ January 7, 2013Usually my husband has to work that night, but by some miracle he was scheduled to be off. We enjoyed a great dinner with friends at a Japanese steakhouse and then barely made it past midnight because we are too old I guess.
Lorre Lyons recently posted..If you give your elf some alcohol……
Red
/ January 9, 2013I like to apply the “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” rule when I am not planning on staying up. Bwahaha. Like that happens.