The New Year

Last year, as the ball dropped
And the lights from the Christmas tree
(Already out of date) twinkled in the corner,
I told you:
"I don't want to start the year with you
Unless I can end it with you."
But you didn't hear me.
The deafening sound of laugher
And champagne corks twisted through the air
In an updraft of euphoria.

Within seconds, every life began anew:
Assured that this year, things would be different
(No more mistakes. No more regrets.
No more missed opportunities)
In our procession 'round the sun.
With confetti falling like snow
And our comrades' drunken rendition
Of "Auld Lang Syne", you kissed me. And,
With lips upon lips, (hips against hips)

You begged the world to cease
(If only for a moment)
To ease this feeling of vertigo
Caused by the champagne and bullshit
Of the old year, now behind us.
But our velocity was terminal
(And we should have known)
For nothing so good can persist so long.

This year is different, as we knew it would be.
There is still champagne, still a Christmas tree
And still our friends of ages past.
And we are both still here,
Though not in the same way as before.
We still talk, still laugh,
Still reminisce about times gone by

In accordance with tradition.
And soon, people are counting down the seconds
To another set of second chances.
And you kiss her. And I kiss him.
(Which means nothing to anyone concerned)
And then they kiss each other, (with feeling!)

Expecting us to do the same.
We just smile
And instead of a kiss, you pull me close
In an embrace that encompassed
The apex of a maelstrom.

You held me there, your hands upon my waist,
My head upon your chest
And your face buried in my hair,
Drinking in the intoxicating scent of strawberries

Like you always used to do.
And within this familiarity, this comfort
That weighs upon us as a heavy tome,

We are paralyzed with indecision.
For things were so much easier with

Lips upon lips (hips against hips)

--

December 23rd 2006