these are not
discrete points
this year
from
the next
nor
from
the one
that preceded
they are
a continuum
of
war
hatred
and
greed
and
prayers
prayers
that
have no
endings
nor
answers
we pretend
for
a brief moment
celebrating
with
wine
and
kisses
that
what is coming
will be
different
a temporal oasis
an oasis
surrounded
by
the same desert
we were
just
wandering through
and
must
now
re-enter
a never ending circle