An aim for the new year

An aim for the new year

Well, another year has been and gone;­ another Christmas is behind us.

New calendars hang on the wall, and daily they remind us

That we’re still getting older, though it seems like two for one,

I’m sure I’ve gained at least two years since the last new year begun.

My tread is pretty weary now, my waistline is expanding,

My teenage kids are out of touch, beyond my understanding.

The list of foods I cannot eat, each year is getting longer,

And the things that once were wrong with me, these days are even wronger.

I can’t sleep through the night any more, which was once par for the course,

For I must get up about four times each night just to ‘water the horse’.

I take tablets by the spoonful, before and after every meal,

And it’s darn near lunch time every day before I even know how bad I feel.

I have pink tablets for diabetes, and white tablets for arthritis,

Blue ones for my blood pressure and green ones for nephritis.

Pain-killers to help my backache and another one that thins my blood,

I should quit the whole lot suddenly and come down with a thud.

Politicians ­– well a while back I could take ‘Œem or I could leave ‘Œem,

But with each year that comes and goes, now there’s no way I’ll believe ’em!

I watch ‘Œem on the telly, they’re in the paper, they’re on the news,

But no matter what they have to say now, it contradicts MY views.

We’re all into saving water now more than we’ve ever been before,

And we could see that this was coming though for 20 years or more.

But we kept putting off what must be done right up to the last minute,

The odds are like the lottery – it’s almost no chance that we’ll win it

As we begin the new year, let’s all look forward with a view

To developing our community with each and every thing we do.

Let us strive for more significance in the decisions that we make,

And let each and every footprint show the forward steps we take.

Let every single one of us be mindful of our place

And be aware of our importance to this, the human race.

For the Lord gave us the key to tend the world we have on loan,

And we should treat it as a treasure to pass on as our own.

We must place a high priority – and must muster our resources 

On looking after rivers and protecting water courses.

It is up to every one of us to take this to our heart,

Cut down waste and cut pollution – it’s not too late to start.

We all have so much in common, let every neighbour be a friend,

Let’s build on our relationships and that start will have no end.

Look past little niggly things and repair some damage done,

Then our lives will be less stressful and we’ll have a lot more fun.

Let’s not hark back to the wrongs done by generations past,

Acknowledge them and learn from them, then let that be the last.

The lessons should be just that, a lesson to all and then

We’ll ensure we don’t make those mistakes, ever more again.

Have patience with the folk we know from other generations,

Accept their differing standards and smooth out the corrugations.

Work on achieving harmony and if we make these things our mission,

The cancers that now eat our world will be in permanent remission.

Let us have more compassion for those less well off than we,

Whether half a world away or here in our community.

Look hard at all their heartache and starvation and the strife,

And do our bit to share some of what we have in our life.

Now this is just a small start for the difference we could make,

If we adopt a change of attitude with each new step that we take.

So that our world could change remarkably for the betterment of all,

Then so many things would follow to complete the overhaul.

By Jeff Cook

What do you think? Do you agree with this poem? What will you do for others this year? Tell us below.