I'm not into Xmas cards, but I like the annual card-sending concept. I also like the inspirational power for reflection that is invested in New Year's Day: a day to look forward and backward. In that spirit, I'd like to offer to my Daily Kos friends a poem, composed in a style I learned during my apprenticeships to my Vogon literary masters:
Our souls and bones the days forever try,
growls Janus' Fido, biting fleas,
with New Year hopes for times we occupy.
A shattered fission-vault set near Sendai
surceased restraining isotopes' release.
Our bones and souls the days forever try.
"Spring cleaning, Cairo! Tunis!" people cry.
New Vatslav-Havel leaders will arise
with New Year hopes for times we occupy.
Jose Guerena didn't have to die
but please stop asking questions, say police.
Our souls and bones the days forever try.
The ninety-nines observe with irate eye
resistance to the greed of cats obese,
with New Year hopes for times we occupy.
As earnest as a catcher in the rye
I wish you wholeness, growth and health and peace
(our bones and souls the days forever try)
with New Year hopes for times we occupy.
Unnecessary extra notes:
I was also inspired by this tour-de-force by Dorothy Gambrell of Cat and Girl.
I do not speak Czech, but as best I can tell, Vaclav is pronounced more like "Vatslav" than "Vaklav." Since we Vogons believe that poetry should be read aloud, I wanted to spell it more phonetically.
Jose Guerena was an American veteran, miner, husband and father who was unjustly killed by Pima County SWAT. The sheriff's office did not welcome inquiry into the matter.
Sorry to end on a downer. I think there is reason to hope. The Arab Spring and the Occupy movement are two such reasons, and they seem to suggest a sliver of a chance that yes, the long arc of history might indeed bend towards justice, at least partially and sometimes. So here's hoping we move in that good direction in 2012.
Happy new year! С нoвым гoдoм! Жаңы жылыңыздар менен!