January Poem

A new year. A new poem. Enjoy!

January

After the feast, the fast…
After the sparkling nights comes a stiff, pale dawn.
Now all the glut and the gorging are past,
Spartan austerities reign.

Throw the windows open
To welcome a wintry blast of keen, cleansing air.
Daylight reveals dishevelled debris—
Time to strip those rooms bare.

Out with all glitter and garnish!
Those glitzy reds and golds now feel like yesterday’s news.
Reset, revamp, revitalise—
Restyle with sparse Nordic hues.

After the merriment, mirth
And boozy bonhomie comes the settling of accounts:
Cool constraint and crisp economy
And the rule of sober sense.

After the season of surfeit,
Time’s relentless pendulum begins its counter swing
Back to what’s ordinary, simple and plain:
There’s a time for everything.

After the feast, the quiet aftermath…
The tense and tingling wait for the tiny signs of spring
To first appear:
A tentative sprinkle of birdsong,
The furtive spurting of shoots,
The creep of daylight on dusk—
The discreet yet unmistakable turn of the year.