The night is serene and still
The moon a crescent sliver
The darkly deep blue sky
Dotted with silvery stars  
Sparkling with icy clarity
Through the closed window

I watch the snow falling
The streetlight reflects ice blue
Twinkling on the fat flakes
As they float feather like
Dancing briefly
Twisting and turning
They are caught by gusts
Of chilly winter wind

The ground is covered now
A coolly smooth surface
Untroubled by human touch
That is yet to come
Foot prints left as boots crunch
Across the frosty expanse

But they are not the first
To break that pristine beauty
Little clawed bird hops
Followed by cat paw prints
Somewhere red will stain the white
Somewhere there is an ending

Here too an end must come
An end to the old year
I wait to hear the midnight bells
That will mark this passage
Between two years
The old and the new

Last year you were still with me
This year you are gone
I feel that pain the pain of loss
I feel my tears salty and warm
Trickling down my cheeks
And I see my heart bleeding
Leaving its own red stain
On the mists of time

Parties there are plenty
Singing of Auld Lang Syne
Glasses raised to cheer in
The start of a new year
A new beginning
A slate wiped clean
The promise that is hope
That this year will the the one
Where all dreams come true

I began the old year with you
I begin the new one without you
I hear an echo from past years
Will this be my new beginning
Will my dreams all come true
Out in the dark may be my answer
Floating with the snowflakes
And sparkling with the stars

The Ice Queen seated on a throne of iron
Surveys her vast frozen world
The ashes and bones of lost loves
Strewn beneath her ****** feet
Her hands are still her heart stiller
Pierced by the shards of her pain

The bleak wasteland of her now
Dotted with glittering icebergs
That stand blocking her way
Too slippery to climb over
Too big to skirt the edges
Escape becomes a distant dream

The nightmare is unravelling
Her only path is pitted with tiny fissures
Down which her self esteem
Gradually vanishes dissolving into mist
The mist spews silently upward
Cloaking all hope in despair

She sees through eyes of granite
Cold hard devoid of emotion
Tears if she had any left
Form tiny silvered droplets of fear
Unmoving on her pale cheeks
Reminding her of her past

Alone she sits splendidly isolated
Walled off from all the others
Each heavy brick in that wall
Crafted from every hurt experienced
Cemented together with her agony
The burden of her years of mistakes
Mistakes made honestly without malice

The price of trusting too easily
Of the urge to rescue others
Of the urge to please and to be loved
Of bending herself out of shape
To become the square peg
In the empty round hole

Her passion for love and living
Sacrificed long ago at the altar of betrayal
She pays for her passion every day
With the coins of regret and self loathing

Time is but a random collection of moments
Scattered across the vastness of the universe
Brilliant motes of cosmic dust dance
Rippling in time to the music of the spheres
The delicate touch of mortal memory
Stitching the tiny sparkling particles together
To create the tapestry of the past and future
The past we leave behind but do not reject
For it has taught us how to transform
The future an unknown territory
For spiritual souls in human bodies
All we truly have is now this instant
The present the gift of the universe
Time to be to ground to grow strong
Breathe it in slowly take it to your heart
Let it embrace you with peace and serenity
Let the light surround you and protect you
From the darkness creeping abroad in our world
The spite that whispers in hidden corners
A bilious susurration of winged demons
The evil that would steal your freedom
Break your spirit force your compliance
Bind you with chains of fear and hatred
Until your vibration is lowered and you fail
Your wings broken your light dimmed
Take courage for that is not your future
The great awakening is becoming
Likeminded souls are channelling light
Drawing energy from distant planes
To bring love and healing to our own
Never forget that you are a child of the universe
You are the light in the darkness
You are the wellspring of hope
You are compassion and forgiveness
And while you exist only in the present
You are the future just as you have been the past
So unfurl your wings and fly free

Time does not stand still
Ever moving ever changing
Sweeping some of us forward
Onward into what is future
Breathless with excitement
The unknown what will be
Beckons with a moving hand
That slides silently across
The face of anticipation
Perhaps leaving others behind
Fixed in the static past
Never again to push through
The barrier of transformation
To find freedom or release
The opaque veil drawn across
In an ultimate finality
The sand in the hourglass
Slips through the waist like gap
Grain follows grain a steady flow
Measuring the moments
Between that which was
And that which has become
A process of translation
Decoding the events of the past
Transmuting them into wisdom
A journey linear in experience
But made cyclical in its intent
By each lonely repetition
Caught in the gap
Between old and new
Frozen balanced on the precipice
Too afraid to pull back
Too afraid to move on
My soul asks why but there is no answer
To the question echoing silently
Across the vast chasm
Desperation reverberates
I stare into the abyss
Sensing it waits to claim me
I have reached the jumping off point
I defy the abyss and reach out
Grasping the hand of hope
Allowing it to guide me
As the wheel turns once again

My body is growing cold
My blood thickens in my veins
My heart is no longer beating
I have taken my last breath
My brief span in this moment is complete
This human vessel of flesh and bone
Has served out its earthly purpose
The passage of linear time has taken its toll
Old now and weary of living
An existence weighed down with pain
It is ready at last to be returned
To the universe that gave it life
As each atom slowly dissipates
My mortal soul is translated
Poured into the dish of immortality
Sharing the sum of my experience
Spinning spiralling singing
Reunited with the choir of the spheres
Part of a greater whole
Reshaped and remade into a new energy
So until the cycle of life begins again
Do not mourn my passing
For I am always with you
I am in the leaf you catch in your hand
In the snowflake that melts on your face
In the wind that ruffles your hair
Till the instant I am chosen to be a new life
Reborn anywhen in the time stream

Free my soul to drift on the wind
To tumble like an autumn leaf
Spinning hues of russet and lemon
Lazy hints of lingering green
Cartwheeling with my partners
In a glorious dance of celebration
Twisting and turning into the final free fall
To carpet the Earth beneath your feet

Free my soul to drizzle like the rain
Seeping gently from grey clouds
Crying out the tears of human woe
Washing away the pain
Washing away the suffering
Evaporating like mist in the sunshine
Leaving behind only hope
The promise that a new dawn brings

Free my soul to roll on the waves
Surfing the foam tipped crests
Crashing wildly into the troughs
Diving down into the depths
To rise once more ever restless
Swirling in eddies on an unknown shore
A distant place of comfort
Where I can at last find peace

Free my soul to fly alongside the birds
Spreading out feathered wings
Riding the unruly air currents
Swooping and soaring poetry in motion
Scanning the ground beneath for prey
Seeking a mate to ease the loneliness
Seeking a tree to build our nest
And raise our own young

Free my soul to run with the wolves
Deep into the pinewood forest
Darkness thickening around us
Waiting with breath baited hearts pounding
Blood calling out wildly to blood
Thrumming through each vein
Howls torn deep from within
As the full moon rises above us

Free my soul to walk among the stars
To wander the edge of far off galaxies
Keeping time to an eternal rhythm
The beat of a different drum in my ears
Haunted by the music of the spheres
Riding a ribbon of moonlight
Scattering stardust in my wake
Finding my freedom in the vastness of space

Dust clouds puff up from beneath my feet
As I trudge the road towards my destiny
Into the future long and straight
Beyond all horizons it stretches
No room to deviate from the path
One false step invites the abyss
My heart is heavy my body weary
My bored mind chases the tumbleweed

Wait what is that distant sound on the wind
Music bright and cheerful leaping notes
Mingling with the song of laughing voices
Light spills out spreading joy on the stone
A sparking trail of golden breadcrumbs
Luring the tired traveller inwards
With the promise of the instant gratification
Of every whim known to man

The door swings open at my touch
I clutch eagerly at the outstretched hand
That twirls me into an enthralling dance
The charming stranger with flashing eyes
And an enchanting smile pulls me to him
The music ever louder ever wilder
Mesmerises me catching me in its web
I am lost in the dream drunk on the thrill

A patchwork chaos of images
Flickers in front of my shifting gaze
My feet cannot keep time to his melody
His demands exceed my human frame
Is there fire in those eyes horns on that head
The dance floor begins to dissolve in flame
Smoke drizzles upwards to cloud my vision
With one desperate snap I break his hold

I awake to a misty grey dawn
My body slumped stiff and sore
On the icy cold paving stones
But I lift my head to greet the day
Grateful for the breath in my lungs
The tears on my cheeks
The freedom in my heart
The solid road beneath me

A close escape a disaster averted
A lesson marked and learned
If you choose to dance with the devil
You will surely wind up in hell