For the New Year
I steel anger
from the gods,
fetch it
to anneal with scorn,
contrive thunder
to punish,
rain ignore,
exchange fury
flake by flake
snowbound burn
intemperate fire
from the cold at heart.
Abhorrent holiday
when festivity
omits its cause,
breaks
tradition like stale bread
promises, toys,
possessions,
precious gifts to retain
in mind and hand —
all let go …
finding death last question
birth first answer.
Unweaned from most-
alien, human-
seeming
relation,
excepting death’s
confrontation,
either accept or spurn
entirely
the end as itself
I will waste away
in contrition,
longing
immaterial
what began
with a word.