HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you in the community of AuthorsDen.

At Year’s End
By John Herlihy

The days march on to a steady beat,
Forgotten the days of summer heat.
Autumn leaves fallen, dead and gone,
Winter siren sings a cold lonely song.

Our footsteps move sure to year’s end,
The road goes on, but here is the bend.
Time to assess what the year did lend,
Both good and bad, let us not pretend.

Like a child, I lay myself down to think,
Stare up at the heavens and just blink.
I see myself lying in my little red wagon,
A cloud above resembles a flying dragon.

I remember Spring, its bejeweled hope,
While I securely cling to life’s divine rope.
As each season arrives, it leaves a mark,
On the heart indelible, a luminous spark.

The holiday season is now upon us,
Blessing yet may still dawn upon us.
A perfection to the season feels old,
As happy as it is, some still feel cold.

Thinking back, I marvel at passing time,
Whenever the day arrives, I feel it mine.
But as twilight falls, premonitions come,
With today gone, will I see another sun.

Truth to tell, so very much has happened,
So much in fact that I never did reckon.
The person I was at the year’s beginning,
Not the same person I see here grinning.

I always spend New Year’s Eve alone,
The false joy I leave to others so prone.
No other night captures the spirit of trust,
That God bestows upon us as He must.

As I awaken on the year’s first morn,
I see before me a new year as reborn.
I didn’t ask for life but love its plenitude,
May I live the year with humble gratitude.