Twenty Seventeen –

what will it bring? And can we

help love and reason prevail?

~

Good times and bad times

I’ve seen them all, and my dear,

 I am still right here!

An uncrowded street

In this city of millions

provides a moment of peace

~

Perhaps within our

crowded minds, we’ll also find

uncrowded moments of peace.

What is memory

for if not to recall the

best and learn from the worst?

~

Memory must serve

as chronicler of all

thing both great and small.

If it’s tradition

to stand firm against the tide,

how can we bend with the wind?

~

Sometimes it’s wise to

stand firm, sometimes to bend. Let

values, not tradition, guide.

In these days between

what was and what will be, how

should we spend our time?

~

Live for the moment.

Because the past is the past

and the future, unwritten.

Now that merry joy

has run it’s seasonal course,

what still remains of this year?

~

Twenty sixteen has

had its ups and downs but

joy runs through the heart of things.

All those many years

ago in the midst of hate,

love was born. Let’s help it grow.

~

Hatred seems to reign

despite love’s reported strength:

Perhaps Love should exercise?

Will there come a time

when Christmas arrives to find

us joyous and well prepared?

~

Christmas is a time

to discover joy whether

or not we’re prepared.

We remember those

who have gone before, knowing

we are here because of them.

~

As, one day, we’ll be

remembered, for good or ill,

by those who follow.

As calendars grow

increasingly short, can we

still draw out holiday joy?

~

It matters not if

calendars grow short as joy

knows no holiday.