New Year's Eve Poem

​well, it's almost over
another year.
and what have you
learned? again
the death of people
the extinction of
a few more species.
maniacs in places
of power are at
last, fittingly, speaking
like maniacs.
I miss my grandfather
and the sea, and the
loneliness hasn't killed me
yet. still: the birds leave
in the fall the birds
return in the spring.
the river will tear
the ice out of its
heart. the moon
will glow like
a melting coin
the moon will sleep
on her velvet pillow.
someone will
try to sell me a thousand
things I don't need.
what I need:
a place to come
home to. a heart,
or a smashing wave
to break one.
when I linger on
a mountaintop
amisdt the lengthening
rime and gnomed spruce
it isn't nostalgia;
I'm trying to empty
the pitcher entirely
to erase the wall
between memory
and forgetfulness,
heaven and earth.