Robert M. Simmons  

from Tracings (Poems 1964-1992)

                 New Year's Eve 1978

When I stop and the swirling world swirls past

tumbling towards a new year and century,

I watch and wonder what of worth will last

in time beyond this self-destructive spree.

The dancers spinning on robot-like feet,

the milling throngs in their pointless rampage,

the autos swerving blindly down the street

are embers of a quickly waning age.

Yet freed myself from ticking time's restraint,

these sparks become correctly placed details

of a perfect display, which soon grows faint

as time's attraction once again prevails,

and back into the vortex I am drawn

with but a glimpse of the glittering dawn.

                            © 2004 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about, New Year's Eve, time, stasis, eternal truth, revelation, perfection, sonnets, poetry, poems

New Year's Eve 1978