‘On Turning the Page of a New Year—2023-2024’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

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On Turning the Page of
a New Year—2023-2024

The hour-glass is almost void of sand,
a rounding of the sun described in grains
that drain away. Now little time remains
as New Year stalks the browns and greens of land.
Don’t ask me with what warring tribe I stand,
the sting of every squirming conflict pains;
our fragile, blue-white world’s enwrapped in chains
of careless men’s unique destructive brand.

Upturn the glass, let’s put the planet straight,
or is this too naïve a goal to set?
Make disaffected adversaries, friends,
damp down the ire that feeds and nurtures hate,
for we’re in our Creator’s lasting debt,
not he in ours, as one more orbit ends.

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Paul A. Freeman is the author of Rumours of Ophir, a crime novel which was taught in Zimbabwean high schools and has been translated into German. In addition to having two novels, a children’s book and an 18,000-word narrative poem (Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers!) commercially published, Paul is the author of hundreds of published short stories, poems and articles.