New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year!
We all cheer, raising our glasses of sparkling champagne
New year, new me!

We all say
What resolutions will we think of today?

I’ll try to get better grades

I’ll try to work out more

I’ll try to drink more water

Our resolutions used to be so simple, so straightforward, so full of hope

When was it that things started to change?

Was it when lockdown first started? Or when we saw hospitals overwhelmed with patients, healthcare workers burdened underneath a system that could barely hold itself afloat?

Was it when we were first told to socially distance and wear masks? Or when we began to see health issues and science further divide our country? Politics over people, agendas over health.

I hope I can see my friends soon

I hope my grandmother will survive

I just want the pandemic to end and for things to return to normal

We’ve tried this year
To make things better
To return to the past, when the pandemic didn’t exist                 

But it still lingers
Clogging up our hospital beds
Seeping into our masks
Creeping into the COVID tests that are once again in short supply      
And as the clock hits 12, once again we say

Happy New Year!

Tiredly, we move our masks aside
raising our glasses of sparkling champagne to our lips    

What New Year’s resolutions will we think of today?    

Everyone’s resolution like last year’s is the same          

Hope 2022 is better than 2021