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Happy New Year. Although last night, when we said the words, we hardly believed them. Said them with little conviction, with a mustard seed-sized faith; Said them more in blind hope than certainty, Like a punch-drunk boxer dazed from too many batterings to think straight, Relying on the muscle memory of New Year’s gone by And the reckless hope we had then Of a future better than the present just passed. It surely can’t get any worse. We said it Despite the uncertainty and evidence to the contrary At risk of ridicule and falling flat on our backs The wind dying in our sails Our dreams getting no further than the garden gate. Because it’s a ritual, a habit, a thing we say; But also because we are creatures Who make leaps of imagination and faith. Who are able to see, Even when the body fails, What the spirit and mind wills: The things that do not yet exist Have not yet come to be. And we say them for the ones unable to say them. Who don’t believe them Who have not the breath to utter them. Or light to feel them. This year will be different but the same: People will die Too soon and alone. There will be earthquakes and famine And a senseless war will rage In a place too far away to feel the richochet. Some will be unlucky; some defy the odds Goals will be met and scored, Posts struck, last posts played. Someone you love will suffer. A business will fail The price of houses will go up. I know I’ll speak ill of someone Send a text I regret Get into a futile argument about The state of the nation, The World. This year there will be bad news But the good news will be like pearls Found in the bin. Resolutions are for fools But still we’ll make them. Resolution means ‘to set free’. I’ll resolve to be more green Then be on the first plane When the freedom to go is given. I’ll kiss the ground of the country I fly to The way the old pope did. At the first party we get to We’ll raise hands in the air And shout ‘yes!’ And when that jab Punctures my arm I’ll thank God For clever people. I’ll visit my un-hugged Mum And my Dad with his un-plugged heart; We’ll get back to the old beat Make a new start. This year things will change and yet be just the same. Let’s lose the weight Of these sad times, Believe that healing awaits and is free. Agree to let no debt remain Except the continuing debt to love. Believe we are necessary to one another. And that with each other we should bear. It’s with this hope I say Happy New Year.