The new year begins in the darkness of winter. We try to light it up with fireworks and cheers, loud illusions of summer happiness in the frosty night air.
Yet there is no inferno that can thaw the the frozen fear of what this new year, this new decade will bring. The crackle of global warming stabbing glaciers into rising oceans while lighting never ending fires. The heated breaths of chanting voices wanting to be heard or wanting to hear heads rolling. The red faced demands of hot-under-the-collar public servants who expect a tip for doing their job.
The twelve chimes of midnight mask my reddened eyes streaming with red-hot tears and the choked sobs of my frozen throat that cannot – can not – defrost despite the promise of new beginnings. The illusion of a friendly inferno only works until you catch on fire. Still, I walk towards that new morning sun.
Winter’s cold ignites
The need for new illusions
Hope can’t wait for Spring
Hello! Happy New Year! This is my first post of 2020 and it’s a triple play! Ok, so one prompt is a missed one from last week (Sorry, Patrick! I was away and missed the deadline but I’m still on a streak!) but the rest are current. I am especially excited about the picture prompt (above) from Sadje who has taken up the “What do you see?” Challenge from Hélène who passed away last year.
Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #213 – Illusions and #214 – Inferno came together with Björn’s first dVerse haibun prompt of the year – beginnings to express my feelings about the start of this new year. Sadje’s picture was the cherry on top of this trifecta of prompts.
Beginnings are usually hopeful events however the news of the last few weeks have been anything but hopeful. This is an election year in the USA and I can already feel the tension and am bracing myself for disappointment. Why? Because people nowadays seem to thrive on fear, not hope. Maybe like in Star Wars Episode VIII, we are looking for the one person (or thing or event) to bring us hope. I think, though, that we have to look to ourselves for hope – to be the hope and even to share that with others.
©️ 2020 iido
I could feel this, Irma. Your words could be about what’s happening in India. That is why I say, your words are powerful. ❤️
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Thank you so much, Punam! Your words bring joy and hope to my heart! I think around the world, this atrocity, unfortunately, is becoming commonplace. We can’t let this be the “new normal”.
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Oh no! This should never be the “new normal”! So we must continue to raise our voice against it. Your words always speak the language of my heart. ❤️
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❤️
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and a winning trifecta at that! Most heartfelt, the fear and the hope …
hope and love must come from within and radiate out, we can’t wait for others or we will be disappointed 🙂
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Quite true, dear Kate! I know you also recently wrote about this. We can’t wait for others to be the hope – we must do that for ourselves.
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absolutely ❤
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a heartfelt haibun Irma, the extremes so well articulated, in our physical world and emotions approaching a new decade.
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What a beautiful post! And how true. We do tend to look outside of ourselves for hope – in our politicians, our celebrities, our heroes. the best place to look for true hope is inside each one of us. “Change yourself, change the world”!
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Thank you for your kind words and support of this. If only more people realized this!
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Happy new year Irma…and yes New year is suppose to be a new beginning but so much and so many have happened over the last decade. Election in US is coming soon…there’s a tension in the middle east and the fear of thousand migrant workers losing their job is iminent, Australia is on fire and now recently one of our (PH’s ) volcanoes erupted and has been affecting areas around even the neighboring cities and provinces. Ashfalls were everywhere. But what angered me the most is the the outrageous price hike of face mask. Yes, how could some people capitalize on the agony of others? The price of face mask is ten times higher than the price before the explosion. This is ridiculous.
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This is beautiful. ❤️
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Thank you, Irene! So happy it resonated with you!
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