New Year Is Coming - A Global Phenomenon Of Time Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Old songs of dreams and romance
still keep playing softly
though the radio is vintage and looking so dusty
yet the ear for old music has not changed
and it will never change
even if there are new singers
with new emotional lyrics and melodies;

the love for the same melodious favorite songs
still persists in many homes and cafes
as Xmas carols sung by Jim Reeves
are played so loudly and prominently
at this time of the year
that lips keep humming the same old songs
with intricate passion and sentiment;

however, above the unpainted apartments,
in the bright skies a helicopter keeps hovering
making roaring noises as it keeps landing,
but no one is interested in looking at it
as everyone is focused on the new year chime
from the Clock Tower above their Town Square;
they are waiting for it to ring like a morning alarm
that wakes them up and alerts them to rush to work;

but as the new year is just around the corner,
everyone is wide awake waiting anxiously
for midnight to appear and declare it's arrival;
the older generation may doze off to sleep
but in the morning they will still be eager to know
if the new year has reached the platform
though the journey has taken
three hundred and sixty five days
to conclude its radius- from one end to another;

but on the eve of the new year at midnight,
the youngsters will be on the streets partying,
waiting to wish their girlfriends with hugs and kisses;
and though everyone knows the new year
is a natural phenomenon
they will still wait to shout and rejoice
as everyone chooses to react
with their own charisma and exuberance;

and as some will go to church to say prayers,
some will go to drink, dance and celebrate,
some will go to find the stars
and make new plans and strategies,
some just stay home and drink some hot coffee;

and as the new year celebrations escalates,
the moon will gaze at the revelers at night
and the sun will shine the same way when it is daylight;
it is only the hearts and minds that count the years
as years keep changing one's energy and enthusiasm
as when one gets older by a year
another new year either adds agility
or decreases momentum to one's own reality.

And as the new year commences and progresses,
the older ones get ready to rest or retire;
while the younger ones turn sweet sixteen or twenty one
they get ready to vote or marry legally;
and as brides keep rushing to take vows,
their grooms will keep making promises
to hold their hands until death doeth part;

and while the year enforces love and unity,
sometimes divorce and depression hurts families;
yet the New Year keeps unfolding new episodes
of success and failure, of joys and sorrows
while the old year closes its chapters
permitting men to welcome a New Year
and enjoy its fervor with thankfulness and excitement
so hard to resist or decline
that fireworks light up the skies all over the world
as an universal celebration.