day 1. new beginnings/Our LostJungle 30X30

Happy New Year” they yell to one another
while confetti falls and streamers float
through the air and the band strikes up
Auld Lang Syne and couples kiss for luck
while toasting in the new year.

 I’ve stolen out to the porch where

it’s cool and quiet and I can be alone
with my gloomy thoughts of the coming year
and wonder if on new year’s eve one person
is appointed keeper of what might be?

In 1906 did a party goer imagine an earthquake

in San Francisco or the Spanish Flu Pandemic in 1918

while others were happy and carefree
did one  wonder what’s coming next,
if this year will bring pain and suffering?

In the midst of happiness and hope,

laughing, jokes, and bubbly champagne,
here I am wondering of war and famine,
death , chaos, and the tides of hate.
Why must I think the worse?