Aftermath

[Hawkman]

Shall we travel hand in hand
where the pavement pizzas bloom?
Avoiding heaps of broken glass
on tip-toe, where there’s room.

The raucous cries of revelry
that echoed through the night
are now replaced with plaintive moans
with heads that throb, held tight.

A love-fest fuelled by alcohol,
we recollect and cringe
it faded as we sobered up,
now all we do is whinge.

How much did that party cost
the money that we burned
by letting off those fireworks
just as the New Year turned?

The coin of celebration
that was launched into the skies
evaporated in the night
and just to please our eyes.

It could have built a hospital
or settled third world debt
but dinne fash yoursel’ my sweet
you have no cause to fret,

you knew it was a sacrifice
required by Father Time,
when gathered in the city squares
you all sang, Auld lang syne.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Hard to get away from the echo of The Love Song of J... &c to begin with but of course it hits its own stride. Still, the "Aud Lang Syne" rhyme at the end felt like small beer after the wit of so many of the earlier rhymes.

[hillwalker]

The spirit of Victor Meldrew - wickedly cynical. I trust your new year was more enjoyable than portrayed here, and that these lines are not the result of a hangover.

Best wishes for 2011

H

[Haunted]

A somber and sober look at the frivolity of new year's celebrations. "pavement pizzas bloom" stuck in my mind, it conjures up the image of hangover puking but I'm sure it's too gross for Hawk to actually mean that :D

[firefangled]

I enjoyed this very much. Just cynical enough to ride the razor's edge between humor and seriousness. I especially liked:

The coin of celebration
that was launched into the skies
evaporated in the night
and just to please our eyes.


To think we do this brief "love fest" for something as fabricated as the passing of a year.

Yesterday I wrote a similar cinquain:

new year
so lost in time
where is January
among the swirling galaxies
show me

[AuntShecky]

Quite amusing, perhaps even endearingly so, as well as topical. "A love fest fuelled by alcohol," indeed, but I'll have to take your word on that one, Hawkman sir. Just this am spouse and yours fooly were noting that neither one of us has been out on New Year's Eve in several decades. Sad, huh? Still, better to be safe than face the
perils of drivers on the roads on "Amateur Night," right?

In any case, a very pleasant piece of verse here -- despite the hangover the attitude in its closing lines is one of resignation, but ultimately rather cheerful. Thanks for posting it.

[Delta40]

A point driven home very effectively, Hawk. Like Aunty, I have not seen a new year in quite a few years

[Hawkman]

Hello everyone. Sorry my response has been delayed but I've been away for a couple of days.

Prince, I'm afraid I'm not sure which love song you are referring to. The song which sprang to my mind when writing was Ralph MacTell's "Streets of London" :D Sorry you thought it ended weekly but I'm glad you enjoyed it up to then... :D

hill, rest assured that I definately had no hangover. I suffered from a defficiency of alcohol to mark the passing of the year!

Haunted, actually the pavement pizzas bloomed the night before :D A result, I suspect, of bodily rejection of alcoholic poisoning before the hangovoer set in :D

ff. Glad you liked it. Your response to the New Year stimulus is considerably more elegent than mine though.

Hi Auntie, I'm afraid the option of going to bed early to avoid other people's celebrations is not an option for me. What with the fireworks, which seem to get more explosive every year, the ships hooters in the dockyard, and the drunken bellowing in the street, sleep is impossible. I can't remember the last time I went to a New Year's party either :D Glad you enjoyed it.

Delta, thanks for reading and commenting. I guess that makes two and a half of us then :D I count myself as the half because as previously stated, I don't go out, but I can't escape it completely.

Thank you all again for reading and commenting. Best wishes to you all for the comming year.

Live and be well, H

[Bar22do]

Hawk, I didn't see it before, I too was away, in a quiet place somewhere in Europe, though we too had our dose of fireworks... Like what you write here, true, balanced with (bitter) humour and causes one a big sigh once's over...

Thanks for this new production of yours!!!

Best wishes of all good in the New Year to you and around you on the site and in "real" life!

Bar

[Hawkman]

Sweet Bar, thanks, as always, not only for tolerating, but actually liking, my cruel and morose scribblings :D It's always a pleasure to hear from you and I trust your own celebrations were cheerfully serene! Belated happy new year to you and yours!

Live and be well, H

[PrinceMyshkin]

Prince, I'm afraid I'm not sure which love song you are referring to.

Something in the lilt of the opening lines reminded me of "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock".

If you have the opportunity, you ought to listen to Eliot himself recite it, as if anything even moderately humorous in it were an offense to his High Anglican soul!

[Hawkman]

Something in the lilt of the opening lines reminded me of "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock".

If you have the opportunity, you ought to listen to Eliot himself recite it, as if anything even moderately humorous in it were an offense to his High Anglican soul!

Ah... Yes, I see what you mean - lol.

Live long and prosper - H

[blank|verse]

Good one, Hawk. I was also reminded of T.S. Eliot in that great opening metaphor, which is the highlight of the poem for me.

Another well crafted piece.

[Hawkman]

Thanks again, b/v. Live and be well. H