New Year Poem

A Hint of Promise by Vanessa Woolley

 

The open window lets the new air in

Running like a river through my lungs,

Starting the day, the year, with a hint of promise.

 

Outside the sky is slate grey

And the air damp

Nothing seems different or new

Yet it is somehow

As if all the things we said and did a day ago

Are long gone

Replaced with exact replicas

And just a hint of promise.

 

The rubbish trucks rumble along pot holed lanes

Collecting festive rubbish

Strands of tinsel and party poppers hang from fences

Like party guests who outstayed their welcome.

And, sitting on a window sill in a small porcelain bowl,

A purple flower protrudes upwards

As if it had been waiting for this exact moment and time to arrive

With a hint of promise.

 

Vanessa Woolley, January 2013