The Old New Year

How many months I ask

Before I name a New Year old?

Or is it the days instead

When mornings are not cold?

Has one noted, for example

The month or the day

When the greeting has gone

Of “A Happy New Year”?

I’ve given it some thought

And after January it’s done,

After 31 days, one single month

The year is old and into rerun.

Now how did I come by that?

What is it that clinched it for me?

What about the new resolves?

They appear forgotten by February.

The old habits have returned

I’m not sure they’d ever stopped

And the old practices we knew

Once more become our props.

I suppose it is the difficulty

Of adjusting to the new,

The old nature is still present

But that is just my view.

You may disagree with me

And I have no problem with that,

My view is just my view

And it need not be a fact.

Perhaps you may suggest March

The third month of the year

When we deal with income tax

For some that is hard to bear.

For by April the first

The tax forms must be in

For a few more then

The humdrum will begin.

Maybe some will go for April

Though that’s stretching it a bit,

On the first I won’t believe you

All Fool’s Day is just a trick.

In May there is nothing left

The New Year has gone for sure,

You may or may not agree

But the New Year is no more.

By now you see what I mean

We are into the month of June

And with it the hurricane season

June has come too soon.

It’s almost the halfway point

The New Year surely is now old,

Through July, August and September

We must do as we are told.

Our ears are glued to the radio

To the TV, Internet and cellphone,

Our eyes are focused on the east

In this we are not alone.

October, November, December

Another year is quickly through

Back to the point we began at

A Happy New year to you!

Stewart Russell © January 2018