New Year's Eve

Ten. Christmas decorations still linger.

The TV flickers in our eyes.

The zing of champagne burns our noses.

The flashy hats and sparkly eyewear scream for attention.

Nine. Children scream and jump,

Even though they don’t actually know why.

Their excitement not for the holiday but instead for being up past bedtime.

They sneak some extra cake, wanting that additional sugar high.

Eight. Teenagers, who used to be those kids,

Steal the alcohol to enhance their confidence.

They become anxious to find a partner to share that midnight rush.

They try to be so much older than they actually are.

Seven. Adults, who used to be those teenagers,

Watch the children play and hope the New Year may bring them their own.

They reminisce over when they had lacked that maturity.

They miss the wildness of youth, yet feel comfort in where they are now.

Six. Elders, who used to be those adults,

Watch everyone else continue to grow.

They sit at the counter with half-empty glasses.

They want to go back in time yet numbly celebrate moving forward.

Five. You sit in this small house, you watch from the corner;

Your observations paint your own personal world.

You realize that the same movie playing in front of you,

Is uniquely playing everywhere else.

Four. This night represents more than just a new day,

for it is the start of a whole new year.

Good things, bad things, and everything in between are left behind,

yet still await us all.

Three. For some, a night of expectation,

For others a night of regret;

And yet for others a night to simply just let go.

For all, though, a night to represent the changes of time.

Two. These people are extremely different, yet remain one in the same.

Everyone’s here, everyone’s watching, and everyone’s anxiously wishing.

The glowing silver ball blinds; the screams cause our ears to ring.

All the figures are now suddenly a blur.

One. In the blink of an eye, that thing we call time stops but at the same time changes.

That shining silver ball that sparkles in the sky explodes with marvelous confetti.

Those miniscule rainbow papers, all those hopes and dreams, whisper softly that the past is now only a shadow.

Our little eyes gleam as we wonder if our dreams, whatever it is that we wish for, will someday really come true.