New Year’s Day

by

2020 reconnaissance…

empty champagne bottles
in
the bin
new beginnings
for
some
for
others
the nightmares
continue
during
evening festivities
few
found
the
fireworks
frightening
except
for
that
old man
under the highway bridge
who
always wears
worn
army fatigues
when
the sky
roared
last night
he
scurried
into
the soggy culvert
at
the base
of the hill
dragging
his sleeping bag
as if
it were
the body
of
a wounded comrade
a comrade
he
refused to leave
to
die alone
in
the morning
as
i drove home
from
the party
i
saw him again
covered in mud
carefully
surveying the terrain
before
repositioning himself
and
friend
beneath
the bridge
to
continue
life’s
battle