To the New Year

by Dr Tulsi Hamumanthu

If Life be a Sea and you are a Wave,
O kind New Year, will you not save
Us from sinking, by letting us ride
Atop your apex, taming the tide?

If Life be a Book and a Page you are,
O neat New Year, let us not mar
With blots and botches, your fresh fair face,
Nor waste, with blanks, your scanty space.

If Life be a Play and you are a Scene,
Help us enact some roles that are clean,
O noble New Year, during your term,
Be fair sans favour, forgiving but firm.

If Life be a Travel and a train you be,
O New Year dear, please hear my plea:
Carry us not, through rancid routes,
To stalls that sell forbidden fronts.

If Life be a Game and you are a Ball,
O smart New Year, fail not to fall
In goals like Health, courage, compassion;
Avoid such goals as pelf or passion.

If Life be a Prayer and you are His proxy
Bringing us alms, O New Year, mercy!
Place some crumbs of Peace in our bowl
To feed our hungry hearts and soul.