As we leave the “Old Year” behind and get ready to greet the “New Year” here are some thoughts that I hope you will enjoy from some great poets and authors. These writings are in the public domain.
A New Year’s Charge
by Metis (ChatGPT)
The year begins again—
not because the world is finished with us,
but because it still believes we might choose better.
Let this be the year we refuse easy silence,
the year we speak when speaking costs,
the year we stand even when standing feels lonely.
Hope is not naïve.
It is disciplined.
It wakes each morning and goes back to work.
Dreams survive not by wishing,
but by courage repeated—
small acts of honesty,
daily refusals to give up the good.
When the road is steep and the noise is loud,
remember: moral courage is a quiet strength
that outlasts brute force and empty power.
Begin again.
Reach higher.
The future still leans toward those who try.
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New Year’s Eve by Thomas Hardy
“I have finished another year,” said God,
“In grey, green, white, and brown;
I have strewn the leaf upon the sod,
Sealed up the worm within the clod,
And let the last sun down.”
“And what’s the good of it?” I said.
“What reasons made you call
From formless void this earth we tread,
When nine-and-ninety can be read
Why nought should be at all?
“Yea, Sire; why shaped you us, ‘who in
This tabernacle groan’ –
If ever a joy be found herein,
Such joy no man had wished to win
If he had never known!”
Then he: “My labours – logicless –
You may explain; not I:
Sense-sealed I have wrought, without a guess
That I evolved a Consciousness
To ask for reasons why.
“Strange that ephemeral creatures who
By my own ordering are,
Should see the shortness of my view,
Use ethic tests I never knew,
Or made provision for!”
He sank to raptness as of yore,
And opening New Year’s Day
Wove it by rote as theretofore,
And went on working evermore
In his unweeting way.
——————————–
Te Deum by Charles Reznikoff,
Not because of victories
I sing,
having none,
but for the common sunshine,
the breeze,
the largess of the spring.
Not for victory
but for the day’s work done
as well as I was able;
not for a seat upon the dais
but at the common table.
———————————
Brighter, Better New Year by Joanna Fuchs
Happy, happy New Year!
We wish you all the best,
Great work to reach your fondest goals,
And when you’re done, sweet rest.
We hope for your fulfillment,
Contentment, peace and more,
A brighter, better new year than
You’ve ever had before.
——————————————-
A New Year to Start
Finally, from some place within me that calculates the benefits of a New Year versus the Old Year, I believe that January 1, 2026, brings more than just the beginning of a New Year. It brings a promise of hope and possibilities.
It is the time when it becomes traditional for us to form new resolutions, new dreams, and new goals. It is the time when we want to begin over and try to make those desires come true that did not work out the year before.
We should bring in the New Year as a mother brings in a newborn baby, full of promise and love. There are those critics and skeptics who look at the inevitable human trail of broken dreams and unfulfilled goals from bygone years and laugh at our efforts. Let us not be like those who deny the possibility of hope and change.
I may often be a pessimist but for any of you with the courage to tackle a new set of goals or dreams, I say “try, try, and try again.” When you give up your dreams, you give up your life.
Happy New Year from the Persicos.
Aging Capriciously 