My Dear Readers:
Today marks the last day of 2025, a year lived dangerously—or precariously—for countless people around the world.
written in response to The Guardian, December 31: Sydney New Year’s Eve strikes sombre tone as fireworks follow minute’s silence for Bondi Beach Victims
"Peace, Unity"
lit on the bridge’s high pylon
while Sydney pauses ...
rainbow flowers of light
bloom in the midnight sky
Chen-ou Liu
(FYI: The Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa, and Kiribati are the first to ring in the New Year. New Zealand is next, followed by Australia, Japan, and South Korea)
I offer the following haiku, tanka, and remarks as invitations to imagination and reflection, in the hope of ringing out the old and the harmful, and welcoming what is new and still becoming.
The ending of a year is like closing a window. Even though it is shut, fresh light will still shine through.
-- Jennifer L. Betts
loneliness
after the fireworks
a falling star
Masaoka Shiki
firework-lit skies ...
each year different, yet
each year the same
Chen-ou Liu
the new year
begins with sky rockets
like them
who can tell
where we will land
Beverley George
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
-- Hal Borland
last day of the year
poems I could have written ...
a bulbul follows
drifting leaves
to the stone cairn
Sonam Chhoki
a fresh leaf
white in the winter
of a new year;
it seems a shame
to mar it with words
M. Kei
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.
-- T.S. Eliot
New Year’s Day
looking back I am lonely
as an autumn evening
Basho
new year saké ...
the gradual dimming
of your flaws
Roberta Beary
first sunrise
of the year
the unexpected journey
of a child
from her womb
Ernesto P. Santiago
New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.
-- Charles Lamb
To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share with the following haiku sequence about my reflection on this coming new year, 2026 and Michael Altshule's New Year remark.
Old and New, New ... Then Old ?
home alone
I listen to the snowlight
from last year
another new year
I meet the stranger’s gaze
in the mirror
the same resolution
with a different weight
first sunrise tinged gray
New Year’s fireworks …
the room quiet before
quieter after
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
-- Michael Altshuler
All the best for New Year, 2026
Chen-ou
Added:
On the Threshold
firework-lit skies ...
each year the same, and yet
each year different
first sunrise gleaming
I high-five my reflection
in the new mirror
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