New Year! poetry by Charles Van Gorkom

Who goes there?
Twenty Twelve, you say,
and how do you come?
do you come with flames
or with flowers?

Are those your people rioting,
your guns blazing,
your missiles streaking,
your drones assassinating,
your bombs exploding?
Or do you come quietly in peace,
your children playing safely in the streets,
fear and hunger banished from your families,
fathers working and mothers bearing
another child of joy?

Twenty Twelve, you may pass
with clean hands and a pure heart,
with a voice that sings
with the stars, with the dawn,
and with love in sun's rising.

I know,
I can't stop you however you come,
but I will sing,
my peace will bless,
I will embrace you with hands that are clean,
a heart that is pure,
and with love in sun's rising.

~ by charles van gorkom