This New Year

Oh, Little Girl,
Young Innocent Boy.
This new year belongs to you.
Your bright eyes,
your rosy cheeks,
your tendrils, untamed and wild.

Take to the woods!
Run through the fields!
Scatter dandelion seeds,
and skip pebbles across still waters!
Scream from hilltops,
fly kites!

Roll in grassy knolls.
Swing so high your dusty
tennis shoes touch the sun
as the wind snaps through your hair.

God, how I wish you peace.
Peace to drink in,
peace to bathe in.
Peace to breathe in as you
laugh on your safe playgrounds.
Peace to exhale as you fall asleep
in the comfort of your beds.

This new year belongs to you.
It is not for the elders to hold,
but to cherish enough to let go and give.

Run,
run and be children.

The old year owes that much to you.